Beginning statin therapy within 14 days of an acute coronary syndrome does not decrease the risk of death, myocardial infarction, or ischemic stroke for up to 4 months, according to a meta-analysis published in the May 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Matthias Briel, MD, of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of previous randomized controlled trials to determine whether early use of statins within 14 days following the onset of acute coronary syndrome reduces cardiovascular illness and overall death at 1 and 4 months. The researchers identified 12 trials involving 13,024 patients.

The researchers found that there were no statistically significant risk reductions from early statin therapy for total death, total myocardial infarction, total stroke, cardiovascular death, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, or revascularization procedures at 1 month and 4 months of follow-up.

The researchers add that serious adverse events associated with early initiation of statins are rare.