In the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 170,000 people who were admitted to a hospital due to heart attack from a national registry.

They compared the risk of death or other complications following heart attack among people who had been treated with statins before the heart attack, those who received statins within 24 hours after heart attack, and those who did not receive statins or who had discontinued use at the time of hospitalization.

The results showed that people who had been previously treated with statins and then received another dose immediately following their heart attack had a 54% lower risk of dying while still in the hospital compared with heart attack patients not on statin therapy.

People who were not taking statins at the time of heart attack but were started on the drugs within 24 hours of hospitalization had a 58% lower risk of in-hospital death compared with those not given statins.

Researchers also found that early statin use was associated with a lower risk of other complications following a heart attack, such as cardiac arrest (when the heart stops beating).