Adding simvastatin to existing treatments safely produces substantial additional benefits for a wide range of high-risk patients, irrespective of their initial cholesterol concentrations. Allocation to 40 mg simvastatin daily reduced the rates of myocardial infarction, of stroke, and of revascularisation by about one-quarter.
After making allowance for non-compliance, actual use of this regimen would probably reduce these rates by about one-third.
Hence, among the many types of high-risk individual studied, 5 years of simvastatin would prevent about 70-100 people per 1000 from suffering at least one of these major vascular events (and longer treatment should produce further benefit).
The size of the 5-year benefit depends chiefly on such individuals' overall risk of major vascular events, rather than on their blood lipid concentrations alone.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12114036?access_num=12114036&link_type=MED&dopt=Abstract
So the statin reduces risk by one quarter.
Maybe one third.
Hang on.....
70-100 people out of 1000 is about 8.5%
And THAT is the difference between RELATIVE and ABSOLUTE risk!
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