BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhuanet) -- A new study showed Crestor (rosuvastatin calcium that helps fight high cholesterol) reduced the risk of blood clots by 44 percent.

    The study dubbed JUPITER -- Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin -- was presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions Sunday. It demonstrated that Crestor also reduced the combined risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke by 47 percent.

    The study was a long-term, large-scale study of 17,802 patients designed to determine if treatment with Crestor lowered the risk of heart attack, stroke and other major cardiovascular events in patients with low levels of "bad" cholesterol (or LDL-C), and raised levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP).

    The results showed that patients taking rosuvastatin cut their risk of heart attack by more than half (54 percent), lowered their risk of stroke by 48 percent, and reduced their total mortality by 20 percent.

    The study also revealed that patients with normal cholesterol levels, no heart disease, but with an elevated CRP were shown to benefit from treatment with rosuvastatin. In these patients, rosuvastatin resulted in a 50 percent reduction in LDL cholesterol which reduced stroke, heart attack and improved overall patient survival.

    (Agencies)