Baseline characteristics and eligibility criteria of participating trials.

Trials are ordered by their date of publication. A = atorvastatin. F = fluvastatin. L = lovastatin. P = pravastatin. R = rosuvastatin. S = simvastatin. LDL-C = LDL cholesterol. CHD = coronary heart disease. 4D = Die Deutsche Diabetes Dialyse Studie. A to Z = Aggrastat to Zocor. AFCAPS/TexCAPS = Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study. ALERT = Assessment of Lescol in Renal Transplantation. ALLHAT-LLT = Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial. ALLIANCE = Aggressive Lipid-Lowering Initiation Abates New Cardiac Events. ASCOT-LLA = Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial–Lipid Lowering Arm. ASPEN = Atorvastatin Study for Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease Endpoints in Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus. AURORA = A Study to Evaluate the Use of Rosuvastatin in Subjects on Regular Hemodialysis: An Assessment of Survival and Cardiovascular Events. CARDS = Collaborative Atorvastatin Diabetes Study. CARE = Cholesterol And Recurrent Events. GISSI-HF = Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell'Insufficienza cardiac. GISSI–P = Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell'Infarto Miocardico. HPS = Heart Protection Study. IDEAL = Incremental Decrease in End Points Through Aggressive Lipid Lowering Study Group. JUPITER = Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin study group. LIPID = Long–term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease. LIPS = Lescol Intervention Prevention Study. MEGA = Management of Elevated Cholesterol in the Primary Prevention Group of Adult Japanese Study Group. Post-CABG = Post-Coronary Artery Bypass Graft. PROSPER = PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk. PROVE-IT = Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy. SEARCH = Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine. SSSS = Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study. TNT = Treating to New Targets. WOSCOPS = West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study.*Estimated with standard Kaplan-Meier methods, with patients censored at their date of death.**History of MI or other symptomatic CHD.†History of intracerebral bleed, transient ischaemic attack, ischaemic stroke, unknown stroke, peripheral artery disease or heart failure (if known).††Includes 382 randomised patients who were excluded from the trialists' primary publication.|| Median follow–up, and mean age, baseline LDL-C and LDL-C difference at 1 year are weighted by the trial–specific variances of the observed logrank (o–e) statistic for major vascular events.§These three trials did not have active run–in periods; the values shown are the estimated on-treatment LDL cholesterol levels in the standard statin group.