A review article in the Journal of Family Practice by Dr. Antonio Gotto concluded that most patients with any detectable risk for cardiovascular disease, including family history, should be put on statin drugs. There is no doubt that all of the major lipid-lowering clinical trials have shown that statin drugs can reduce cardiac events, and some show a slight decrease in all-cause mortality. Gotto estimates that 10,000 to 20,000 heart attacks could be prevented each year. Since there are presently 920,000 heart attacks each year, you could only prevent one out of 92 or one out of 46, depending on which figure you use. That means that 91 out of 92, or 45 out of 46, treated patients would receive no benefit from taking the drugs. Side effects are declared to be minimal, but I sure see a lot of them. Red yeast is much safer and cheaper and comparably effective, but it is not mentioned in the article because it is not a drug. Statin drugs have their place, but whether to take them or not is a reasonable choice that should be discussed between the patient and the doctor.
See Antonio Gotto in the Journal of Family Practice, October 8, 2009.
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