The Los Angeles Times (8/9, Healy) reports that "in recent months," statins' "touted medical reputation has come under tough scrutiny." While the drugs "certainly decrease rates of heart attack in people who have clear signs of cardiovascular disease...it's not so clear they work that way in people who are healthy." In one study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine "last month, medical researchers found that, contrary to widely held belief, statins do not drive down death rates among those who take them to prevent a first heart attack."
