Effects of statins on low-density-lipoproteins size: a new role in cardiovascular prevention ?

Cardiovascular diseases still represent the first cause of death in most of the industrialized countries. An effective prevention includes the treatment of a series of risk factors: smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia.1 Statins represent a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs as inhibitors of the hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase enzyme which catalyzes one of the first steps of the cholesterol metabolic pathway. This class of drugs has been used in a very large number of patients, in both primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention, for its ability to reduce clinical events linked to atherosclerosis, including acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina, c…