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High strength statins, or cholesterol-lowering drugs do not increase the risk of kidney injury among heart attack survivors, according to a new study.

The preliminary research was presented at the American Heart Association's Emerging Science Series Webinar.

Statins have been shown to cut the risk of a first or recurrent heart attack.  However, recent observational studies have linked high doses of statins to a higher incidence of kidney injury. 

Researchers from the latest study analyzed data from two large clinical trials in which survivors were randomly assigned to receive either high-or low-dose statins.  The findings revealed that higher strength statins did not increase the risk of hospitalizations with kidney injury when compared to low-dose statins. Furthermore, concentrations of a blood protein, called creatinine, which reflects kidney function were similar between the two groups during follow-up.

"These findings provide important reassurance to clinicians that the use of some high-potency statins will not increase the risk of kidney injury," lead researcher Dr. Amy Sarma, a resident physician in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass, said in a news release.