Cholesterol-lowering drugs could prevent cardiovascular disease in more Americans than previously thought, American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology reported on Tuesday.

An updgrade to the Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults recommended statin therapy for individuals at increased atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk who are most likely to experience a net benefit in terms of the potential to reduce ASCVD events and potential for adverse effects.

"These new guidelines represent the best of what scientific research can tell us about how to prevent heart disease and stroke," said American Heart Association president Mariell Jessup, M.D., medical director of the Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "These recommendations will help guide the clinical decisions doctors make every day to protect their patients from two of the nation's biggest killers."

The move unveiled by nation's cardiologists could double the number of patients taking the cholesterol-lowering drugs to about 70 million changing a the way doctors have prescribed the popular drugs for most of the last decade.

"Clinicians should not just think of obesity as a lifestyle issue. They should treat obesity as a disease," Hu said. "Providing preventive care services such as obesity screening and behavioral counseling are critically important."

The statin drugs will now be prescribed to an estimated 33 million Americans without cardiovascular disease who have a 7.5% or higher risk for heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years.

"People should only take a statin if their 10-year risk level exceeded 20%," the new guideline recommended. "The old guideline only considered a person's risk for heart disease, leaving out the risk for stroke."

Statins are drugs that lower the amount of cholesterol circulating in the blood. Seven statin drugs are currently available in the U.S.