HIP-HIP-HOPE-3! Expanded role for statin therapy for primary prevention

The HOPE-3 trial sought to determine if blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol-lowering therapies are effective and safe as primary prevention strategies in intermediate risk patients. The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines support a risk-based approach to statin use but in intermediate risk patients the tradeoffs between benefit and risk were deemed “less clear.”  Do the results of HOPE-3 trial provide enough evidence to support routinely treating intermediate risk patients?