'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Cholesterol medication has been linked to reduced risk of death from COVID-19, according to a new, large-population study.
Statins are often prescribed by doctors to help lower cholesterol levels in the blood and can help prevent cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and stroke.
"Our results suggest that statin treatment can have a moderate prophylactic effect on COVID-19 mortality," Rita Bergqvist, medical student at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and co-author of the study, said in a news release.
Previous studies attempting to ascertain a relationship between use of the drugs and COVID-19 deaths did not provide concrete answers. This led researchers to carry out the largest population study to date on the relationship between statins and COVID-19 mortality.
The study, published Thursday in the journal PLOS Medicine, analyzed the medical data of all 963,876 residents in the Stockholm area aged 45 and up from March 1, 2020, to Nov. 11, 2020. Among them, 169,642 were prescribed statins between March 1, 2019 and Feb. 29, 2020.
Those who were prescribed statins were older on average (71 years old versus 58 years old), more often diagnosed with comorbidities (23.3 per cent versus 1.6 per cent) and more frequently on anticoagulant and antihypertensive treatments, among other factors.
A total of 2,545 residents from the entire cohort died from COVID-19 during the analysis period, including 765 of those prescribed statins (0.45 per cent of group) and 1,780 who weren't (0.2 per cent of group).
After adjustments were made with respect to relevant medical data, such as pre-existing medical conditions, results showed that statin treatment was actually associated with a slightly lower risk of dying from COVID-19. The correlation also didn't vary significantly between risk groups.
"All in all, our findings support the continued use of statins for conditions such as cardiovascular disease and high levels of blood lipids in line with current recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Viktor Ahlqvist, co-author and doctoral student at the university's global public health department.
It should be noted, the authors say, that randomized studies will need to be conducted to determine if there is a causal relationship.
One limitation of the study was that it used prescription data while not being able to account for actual drug use. The researchers were also not able to control for risk factors, such as smoking and high BMI, only diagnosed health status.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.