Cholesterol, cholesterol-lowering agents/statins, and urologic disease: Part V--Statins versus aspirin for primary prevention, and the winner is...?

There are no national guidelines when comparing an aspirin daily to a statin drug in individuals with no history of a cardiovascular event (primary prevention). However, recent reviews of the medical clinical research on statins and aspirin for preventing a first coronary heart disease (CHD) event concluded that compared to no treatment, aspirin is cheaper and has more of an impact in middle-aged men whose 10-year risk for CHD is 7.5% or higher, and adding a statin to aspirin therapy is better in terms of cost effectiveness when a patient's 10-year CHD risk before any treatment is greater than 10%. However, when scrutinizing these data it seems that statins beat aspirin in every single risk-reduction category, and has equal to perhaps less side effects, but a statin costs more. In addition, patients should be informed about the recent observational data suggesting that statins may reduce mortality from other causes such as prostate cancer.