Statins: Did Your Doctor Tell You . . . ?

Excerpt:
"“Do Statins Have a Role in Primary Prevention” is a review of 10 major statin trials conducted by the Therapeutics Initiative of the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics of the University of British Columbia. Here are their conclusions:
• “If cardiovascular serious adverse events are viewed in isolation, 71 primary prevention patients with cardiovascular risk factors have to be treated with a statin for 3 to 5 years to prevent one myocardial infarction or stroke.”
• “This cardiovascular benefit is not reflected in 2 measures of overall health impact, total mortality and total serious adverse events. Therefore, statins have not been shown to provide an overall health benefit in primary prevention trials.”
In plain English, the study says that if you are taking statins to prevent myocardial infarction (“heart attack”) or stroke:
• Only 1 of 71 people (1.4%) will have a heart attack or stroke prevented every 3-5 years. [So, yes, statins do provide some protection against heart attacks.]
• Despite protecting 1 person in 71, the death rate of those taking statins was just as high as those not taking statins: as a group, there was no increase in longevity.
By taking statins you are betting that you will be that 1 person in 71 who benefits, that the statins won’t cause you to die by some other means and that any adverse effects caused by the drug (see below) will be not be too severe."

Download full .pdf file [186KB] here

Article copyright © 2003 by Michael Babcock. All rights reserved.
Permission to reproduce with acknowledgment. (03-09-03)