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Tuesday, December 10, 2002Statins have been hailed as miracle drugs for their ability to prevent deaths from heart attacks by lowering cholesterol. Some doctors go so far as to say the statins have had a greater effect on heart disease than anything else introduced in the last 50 years. Last year, a national group of experts issued guidelines saying statins should be prescribed to some 36 million Americans, three times as many as were taking them then, to reduce their risk of heart disease. In addition to protecting people at high risk, statins protect people who have already suffered one heart attack. Three large studies have shown that statins reduce the risk of second heart attacks by 30 percent and the risk of death from second heart attacks by 40 percent. Those studies (here, here, here, and here) actually consistently show that taking statins decreases the incidence of heart attacks by about three or four percentage points. From around 15% to 12%. It’s questionable whether their costs, both in terms of side effects and money, are really worth the surge in their use, a point I’ve made before. posted by Sydney on 12/10/2002 07:22:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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