Statins are the pivotal treatment for cardiovascular prevention, whether primary or secondary. In order to decide when to start statin therapy, which statin to choose and what dose to choose, the patient's cardiovascular risk must first be assessed. The main objective is to treat patients at high cardiovascular risk who will benefit from treatment and not to treat patients at low cardiovascular risk. The European SCORE tables are used to assess cardiovascular risk. In primary prevention, statins are started at a low dose and then the dosage can be increased to the LDL-cholesterol target. Statins have different pharmacokinetic properties, and some are preferentially indicated in cases of renal failure or concomitant treatments metabolised by hepatic cytochromes (antiretroviral, immunotherapies, cyclosporin etc.). In addition, statins associated muscle symptoms are frequent, leading to premature discontinuation of treatment, which is a loss of chance in cardiovascular prevention. It is important to properly manage muscle symptoms under statins therapy to maintain the treatment. (C) 2020 Societe francophone nutrition clinique et metabolisme (SFNCM). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.