Statins, commonly used to prevent heart attacks, may also reduce the risk of blood clots being formed in the veins in lungs or in limbs by up to 25 per cent, claim researchers, including one of Indian origin.
The cholesterol-lowering pill may hold the key to eradicating venous thromboembolism (VTE), one of the most preventable causes of hospital deaths, researchers said.
Researchers at Universities of Leicester and Bristol in the UK analysed 36 studies involving more than 3.2 million people as part of new research.
The study provides an "extensive body of evidence on the clinical benefit of statin in the occurrence of VTE."
The finding could potentially lead to new guidelines and an expansion of the use of treatment, which is already established in cardiovascular disease prevention.
"These findings underscore a potential beneficial role of statin therapy on VTE in addition to its established role in cardiovascular disease prevention," said Kamlesh Khunti, professor at the University of Leicester.
"Currently, statins are only approved for lipid lowering in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease," said lead researcher Setor Kunutsor from University of Bristol.
"However they have shown great promise beyond their established lipid-lowering effects and these include potential beneficial impact on multiple disease conditions," said Kunutsor.
"These results provide an extensive body of evidence on the clinical benefit of statin in the occurrence of VTE and may support a true protective effect," Kunutsor added.
The study was published in the The Lancet Haematology journal.
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