Study: Cholesterol drugs could help those with healthy levels

ealthy men and women with good cholesterol levels could significantly reduce their risk of heart disease by taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, better known as statins, according to a study released Sunday.

Today, only people with high levels of cholesterol are prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, known as statins.

Nearly 18,000 people in 26 countries, including 7,000 women and nearly 5,000 minorities, participated in the clinical trial, the results of which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

All had very good cholesterol levels, with average LDL -- or "bad" cholesterol -- levels of 108 and average HDL --or "good" cholesterol -- levels of 49.

However, each participant had elevated levels of "high-sensitivity C-reactive protein" or hs-CRP -- a marker that indicates inflammation in the body and can contribute to coronary heart disease, the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States.

Under the current guidelines set for lowering cholesterol levels, none of the participants would have qualified for taking statins.

In the study, the participants took 20 milligrams of the drug Rosuvastatin -- commercially known as Crestor -- or a placebo pill.

The maker of Crestor, AstraZeneca, funded the study.