LONDON - Worldwide thousands of people taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are suffering unnecessary heart attacks because they are not complying with the recommended treatment, Dutch researchers said on Thursday.

The researchers estimate up to 9,000 European and 7,000 American statin users have heart attacks that are avoidable.

"Getting users to stay on statins and to use them persistently saves lives, and doctors must get over to patients the message that complying with treatment is essential," Dr Fernie Penning-van Beest, of the PHARMO Institute in Utrecht, said in a statement.

High cholesterol, along with smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and being overweight, is a risk factor for heart disease, one of the biggest killers in Western countries.

Statins lower cholesterol by inhibiting an enzyme that controls how much is produced in the body. Pfizer's Lipitor, Merck's Zocor and AstraZeneca's Crestor are among the leading statin drugs on the market.

The drugs are effective if taken properly, but some people may be taking doses that are too low or have stopped treatment.

The Dutch study of nearly 60,000 new statin users and their prescriptions in the Netherlands over a two-year period found that about half the patients stopped taking the drugs during that time. Roughly a third were on a high or intermediate dose.

Hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped by 30 percent in statin users compared to patients not complying with the treatment, the study found. They believe that the impact of using the drugs properly would be similar in Europe and the United States.

In the study published in the European Heart Journal they calculated that every year up to 400 statin users in the Netherlands have a heart attack that could have been avoided.

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