Anti-Cholesterol Drug Linked to Heart Transplant Survival Rate

People who received a heart transplant were more likely to survive for a year if they took an anti-cholesterol drug, according to a new study at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Researchers followed 97 heart transplant recipients, all of whom were given a standard drug to reduce the likelihood of organ rejection. But 47 people also took pravastatin, a powerful cholesterol-lowering drug.

After a year, 94% of those on pravastatin were still alive, compared with 78% in the control group.