The Prescriber’s Letter of December 2008 led off with the story that high risk patients should be treated with a statin drug if their CRP sensitive test is elevated, even if their cholesterol is normal. They stressed that it was crucial to use the high-sensitivity test to detect this inflammation risk factor. In the same month Medicare informed practicing physicians that they would no longer pay for the high-sensitivity test. Medicare’s decision probably had more to do with cost than evidence-based medicine. But on second thought, maybe Medicare was correct, even if they did not use the correct reason. The study on CRP sensitive has hit the medical community like a bombshell to increase the use of statins. The study also showed that you have to treat 95 patients to prevent one major cardiovascular event, and side effects were not analyzed. By the way, the study was funded by the makers of Crestor, the most powerful statin on the market.
See Prescriber’s Letter, December 2008 issue.
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