WEDNESDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- Statin therapy appears to reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events in both men and women, but it may not reduce the risk of stroke or all-cause mortality in women, according to a meta-analysis published in the June 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Jose Gutierrez, M.D., M.P.H., from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues identified randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trials evaluating statins for secondary prevention of cardiovascular events.

In 11 trials involving 43,193 patients the researchers found that statin therapy was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular events in all outcomes for women (relative risk [RR], 0.81; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.74 to 0.89) and men (RR, 0.82; 95 percent CI, 0.78 to 0.85). However, statins did not reduce all-cause mortality in women compared to men (RR, 0.92 [95 percent CI, 0.76 to 1.13] versus 0.79 [95 percent CI, 0.72 to 0.87]), nor did they reduce stroke in women compared to men (RR, 0.92 [95 percent CI, 0.76 to 1.10] versus 0.81 [95 percent CI, 0.72 to 0.92]).

"Statin therapy is an effective intervention in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in both sexes, but there is no benefit on stroke and all-cause mortality in women," the authors write.

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