@article {Kristensene007118, author = {Malene Lopez Kristensen and Palle Mark Christensen and Jesper Hallas}, title = {The effect of statins on average survival in randomised trials, an analysis of end point postponement}, volume = {5}, number = {9}, elocation-id = {e007118}, year = {2015}, doi = {10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007118}, publisher = {British Medical Journal Publishing Group}, abstract = {Objective To estimate the average postponement of death in statin trials.Setting A systematic literature review of all statin trials that presented all-cause survival curves for treated and untreated.Intervention Statin treatment compared to placebo.Primary outcome measures The average postponement of death as represented by the area between the survival curves.Results 6 studies for primary prevention and 5 for secondary prevention with a follow-up between 2.0 and 6.1 years were identified. Death was postponed between -5 and 19 days in primary prevention trials and between -10 and 27 days in secondary prevention trials. The median postponement of death for primary and secondary prevention trials were 3.2 and 4.1 days, respectively.Conclusions Statin treatment results in a surprisingly small average gain in overall survival within the trials{\textquoteright} running time. For patients whose life expectancy is limited or who have adverse effects of treatment, withholding statin therapy should be considered.}, issn = {2044-6055}, URL = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/9/e007118}, eprint = {https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/9/e007118.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Open} }