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Healthy patients using statins are 'more likely to suffer side-effects than gain health benefits'
Fewer than one in every 200 healthy patients who take statins actually benefit, doctors have warned.
Reigniting the debate over the cholesterol-busting drugs, the experts warn that too many patients are given statins without proper information about their drawbacks.
They say people should stop using them if they are suffering side effects - and call for patients to have a greater choice over taking the pills in the first place.
People should be advised to take up more exercise and improve their diet before they are directed towards statins, the experts say.
Their editorial, published last night in the Prescriber medical journal, points to industry-sponsored studies which found that only 0.5 per cent of healthy people avoided a heart attack or stroke by taking statins for five years.
The authors - London cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, Canadian pharmacist Professor James McCormack, and US physician Professor David Newman - called for a complete rewrite of British and American guidance.
Professor Simon Capewell, vice president of the Faculty of Public Health, added: ‘For most middle aged people wishing to avoid heart disease, a healthy diet offers a far more powerful, sustainable and enjoyable plan than lifelong statin tablets.’
But Dr Tim Chico, consultant cardiologist at Sheffield University, said the editorial presented a ‘false choice’ between improving lifestyle and taking medicines.
‘I completely disagree that treatment targets remove individual preference,’ he said.
‘These targets simply guide doctors as to which patients might benefit from a treatment.
‘I see hundreds of patients who take statins and other medications without any side effects and who are happy that we are doing everything possible to prevent them from another potentially fatal heart attack.’
Information from here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3224682/Statins-warning-Healthy-patients-using-drugs-likely-suffer-effects-gain-health-benefits-say-doctors.html
I wonder if Dr Tim Chico is on the big pharma payola? Last time I checked out a UK statinater his outfit had received over £200,000,000 from big pharma, yes you read that right, £200 million sheets. Check out Sir RoryStatin err...Collins.
Fewer than one in every 200 healthy patients who take statins actually benefit, doctors have warned.
Reigniting the debate over the cholesterol-busting drugs, the experts warn that too many patients are given statins without proper information about their drawbacks.
They say people should stop using them if they are suffering side effects - and call for patients to have a greater choice over taking the pills in the first place.
People should be advised to take up more exercise and improve their diet before they are directed towards statins, the experts say.
Their editorial, published last night in the Prescriber medical journal, points to industry-sponsored studies which found that only 0.5 per cent of healthy people avoided a heart attack or stroke by taking statins for five years.
The authors - London cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, Canadian pharmacist Professor James McCormack, and US physician Professor David Newman - called for a complete rewrite of British and American guidance.
Professor Simon Capewell, vice president of the Faculty of Public Health, added: ‘For most middle aged people wishing to avoid heart disease, a healthy diet offers a far more powerful, sustainable and enjoyable plan than lifelong statin tablets.’
But Dr Tim Chico, consultant cardiologist at Sheffield University, said the editorial presented a ‘false choice’ between improving lifestyle and taking medicines.
‘I completely disagree that treatment targets remove individual preference,’ he said.
‘These targets simply guide doctors as to which patients might benefit from a treatment.
‘I see hundreds of patients who take statins and other medications without any side effects and who are happy that we are doing everything possible to prevent them from another potentially fatal heart attack.’
Information from here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3224682/Statins-warning-Healthy-patients-using-drugs-likely-suffer-effects-gain-health-benefits-say-doctors.html
I wonder if Dr Tim Chico is on the big pharma payola? Last time I checked out a UK statinater his outfit had received over £200,000,000 from big pharma, yes you read that right, £200 million sheets. Check out Sir Rory
