For the first time ever, a new study provides direct evidence that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins can prevent heart attacks, strokes and deaths among women.

A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, adds to the evidence that vitamin C supplements can lower concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), a central biomarker of inflammation that has been shown to be a powerful predictor of heart disease and diabetes.

Folic acid is safe–but it lacks any cardiovascular benefits, according to researchers presenting at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008. The results from the Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine (SEARCH), a 12,064-person, randomized study, were presented as a late-breaking clinical trial.

Researchers reported on a study of a new oral anti-clotting agent, rivaroxaban, designed to identify doses that would be safe to test in subsequent phase 3 efficacy and safety trials. The results of ATLAS ACS-TIMI 46 were presented as a late-breaking clinical trial at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008.

Low-dose aspirin as primary prevention did not appear to significantly reduce the risk of a combined end point of coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study in JAMA. However, aspirin did significantly reduce the combination of fatal coronary and fatal cerebrovascular events.

Elderly people who take a cholesterol drug after a stroke or mini-stroke lower their risk of having another stroke just as much as younger people in the same situation, according to research published in the September 3, 2008 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The diabetes medication metformin (Glucophage, Fortamet, Riomet) may be associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies in the October 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.