Association (ACC/AHA) cholesterol guidelines determined that except for those with diabetes mellitus or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (LDL-C) >190 mg/dL, individuals should be selected for statin therapy for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease on the basis of predicted 10-year cardiovascular risk.1 Such a risk-based approach leads to greater statin eligibility among older individuals with lower levels of LDL-C while limiting eligibility in younger individuals with higher LDL-C because predicted risk is driven primarily by age.2 Defining statin eligibility with the use of a predicted risk threshold also implicitly assumes that the benefit of statins is constant in all eligible individuals, regardless of the factors that contribute to their increased risk such as higher age as opposed to higher LDL-C.Alternative approaches in determining statin eligibility have also been proposed recently, including the use of novel markers for better risk classification 3,4 and the use of entry criteria for randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) to define statin benefit groups. 5,6 Moreover, Pandya et al 7 have shown that statin preventive therapy remains cost-effective even at lower risk thresholds than selected by the ACC/AHA guidelines. Although each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages, none directly considers the clinical benefits from statin therapy for each individual on the basis of the available clinical trial data. We compared statin eligibilities using 2 separate approaches: a 10-year risk-based approach (≥7.5% 10-year risk) and an individualized benefit approach (ie, based on predicted absolute risk reduction over 10 years [ARR 10 ] ≥2.3% from randomized, controlled trial data). A risk-based approach led to the eligibility of 15.0 million (95% confidence interval, 12.7-17.3 million) Americans, whereas a benefit-based approach identified 24.6 million (95% confidence interval, 21.0-28.1 million). The corresponding numbers needed to treat over 10 years were 21 (range, 9-44) and 25 (range, 9-44). The benefit-based approach identified 9.5 million lower-risk (<7.5% 10-year risk) Americans not currently eligible for statin treatment who had the same or greater expected benefit from statins (≥2.3% ARR 10 ) compared with higher-risk individuals. This lower-risk/acceptable-benefit group includes younger individuals (mean age, 55.2 versus 62.5 years; P<0.001 for benefit based versus risk based) with higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (140 versus133 mg/dL; P=0.01). Statin treatment in this group would be expected to prevent an additional 266 508 cardiovascular events over 10 years. Conclusions-An individualized statin benefit approach can identify lower-risk individuals who have equal or greater expected benefit from statins in primary prevention compared with higher-risk individuals. This approach may help develop guideline recommendations that better identify individuals who meaningfully benefit from statin therapy.