One in 4 Americans >40 years of age takes a statin to reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and other complications of atherosclerotic disease. The most effective statins produce a mean reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of 55% to 60% at the maximum dosage, and 6 of the 7 marketed statins are available in generic form, which makes them affordable for most patients. Primarily using data from randomized controlled trials, supplemented with observational data where necessary, this scientific statement provides a comprehensive review of statin safety and tolerability. The review covers the general patient population, as well as demographic subgroups, including the elderly, children, pregnant women, East Asians, and patients with specific conditions such as chronic disease of the kidney and liver, human immunodeficiency viral infection, and organ transplants. The risk of statin-induced serious muscle injury, including rhabdomyolysis, is <0.1%, and the risk of serious hepatotoxicity is ≈0.001%. The risk of statin-induced newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus is ≈0.2% per year of treatment, depending on the underlying risk of diabetes mellitus in the population studied. In patients with cerebrovascular disease, statins possibly increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke; however, they clearly produce a greater reduction in the risk of atherothrombotic stroke and thus total stroke, as well as other cardiovascular events. There is no convincing evidence for a causal relationship between statins and cancer, cataracts, cognitive dysfunction, peripheral neuropathy, erectile dysfunction, or tendonitis. In US clinical practices, roughly 10% of patients stop taking a statin because of subjective complaints, most commonly muscle symptoms without raised creatine kinase. In contrast, in randomized clinical trials, the difference in the incidence of muscle symptoms without significantly raised creatine kinase in statin-treated compared with placebo-treated participants is <1%, and it is even smaller (0.1%) for patients who discontinued treatment because of such muscle symptoms. This suggests that muscle symptoms are usually not caused by pharmacological effects of the statin. Restarting statin therapy in these patients can be challenging, but it is important, especially in patients at high risk of cardiovascular events, for whom prevention of these events is a priority. Overall, in patients for whom statin treatment is recommended by current guidelines, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks.

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals are able to access and process basic health information and services and thereby participate in health-related decisions. Limited health literacy is highly prevalent in the United States and is strongly associated with patient morbidity, mortality, healthcare use, and costs. The objectives of this American Heart Association scientific statement are (1) to summarize the relevance of health literacy to cardiovascular health; (2) to present the adverse associations of health literacy with cardiovascular risk factors, conditions, and treatments; (3) to suggest strategies that address barriers imposed by limited health literacy on the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease; (4) to demonstrate the contributions of health literacy to health disparities, given its association with social determinants of health; and (5) to propose future directions for how health literacy can be integrated into the American Heart Association's mandate to advance cardiovascular treatment and research, thereby improving patient care and public health. Inadequate health literacy is a barrier to the American Heart Association meeting its 2020 Impact Goals, and this statement articulates the rationale to anticipate and address the adverse cardiovascular effects associated with health literacy.

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Objectives We hypothesized that arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 Tesla (T) would be a reliable non-contrast technique for measuring peak exercise calf muscle blood flow in both healthy volunteers and patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and will discriminate between these groups. Background Prior work demonstrated the utility of first-pass gadolinium-enhanced calf muscle perfusion MRI in patients with PAD. However, patients with PAD often have advanced renal disease and cannot receive gadolinium. Methods PAD patients had claudication and an ankle brachial index 0.4–0.9. Age-matched normal subjects (NL) had no PAD risk factors and were symptom-free with exercise. All performed supine plantar flexion exercise in a 3T MRI scanner using a pedal ergometer until exhaustion or limiting symptoms and were imaged at peak exercise with 15 averaged ASL images. Peak perfusion was measured from ASL blood flow images by placing a region of interest in the calf muscle region with the greatest signal intensity. Perfusion was compared between PAD and NL and repeat testing was performed in 12 subjects (5 NL, 7 PAD) for assessment of reproducibility. Results Peak exercise calf perfusion (mean±SD) of 15 NL (age 54±9 years) was higher than in 15 PAD (age 64±5 years, ABI 0.70±0.14) (80±23mL/min-100g vs. 49±16mL/min-100g, p<0.001). Five NL performed exercise matched to PAD and again demonstrated higher perfusion (84±25mL/min-100g, p<0.002). As a measure of reproducibility, intra-class correlation coefficient between repeated studies was 0.87 (95% CI 0.61–0.96). Inter-observer reproducibility was 0.96 (95% CI 0.84–0.99). Conclusions ASL is a reproducible non-contrast technique for quantifying peak exercise blood flow in calf muscle. Independent of exercise time, ASL discriminates between NL and PAD. This technique may prove useful for clinical trials of therapies for improving muscle perfusion, especially in patients unable to receive gadolinium.