Patients who receive an add-on medication soon after a heart attack have a significantly better prognosis than those who receive it later, or not all.
This is according to a new study from researchers at Lund University in Sweden and Imperial College London. The findings suggest that treating patients earlier with a combination of statins and the cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe could prevent thousands of new heart attacks over a decade.
Cardiovascular disease is by far the most common cause of death worldwide, with heart attack (‘myocardial infarction’) being the most common acute event. For those who survive a heart attack, the risk of a new heart attack is greatest in the first year after the initial event because the blood vessels are more sensitive, making it easier for blood clots to…