Cholesterol Lowering Drugs for the Elderly, a Very Bad Idea !
The words of Jeffrey Dach MD
Flawed and Corrupted Study
A 2008 publication by Jonathon Afilalo in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology concludes that," Statins reduce all-cause mortality in elderly patients and the magnitude of this effect is substantially larger than had been previously estimated. "
Statistics Manipulated
This 2008 metanalysis by Afilalo is a statistical sleight of hand that gives the results opposite to reality. Their conclusion is directly opposite to multiple previous studies. Also, this published study had no Disclosure Statement, another warning sign of bias from authors receiving compensation from drug companies.
Lowering Cholesterol in the Elderly is a BAD IDEA
Contrary to the above flawed 2008 metanalysis, it is a very bad idea to lower the cholesterol levels in the elderly with statin drugs. An excellent article on the topic appeared on the Junk Food Science Blog.
Here's the evidence:
1) the Honolulu Heart Study published in Lancet 2001, showed that patients with the lowest cholesterol had the highest mortality. The authors concluded,"These data cast doubt on the scientific justification for lowering cholesterol to very low concentrations in elderly people."
2) Krumholz from Yale published his study in JAMA 1994 looking at elevated cholesterol to see if it was associated with increased all-cause mortality or heart disease. He reported that elevated cholesterol was NOT a risk factor for mortality or heart disease. He said,"our findings do not support the hypothesis that hypercholesterolemia or low HDL-C are important risk factors for all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease mortality, or hospitalization for myocardial infarction or unstable angina in this cohort of persons older than 70 years."
3) Beatrice Golomb MD in Geriatric Times 2004, reports that in the elderly, higher cholesterol is linked with improved survival.
She says, "While patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease receive mortality benefit from statins in studies predominating in middle-aged men (Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study Group, 1994), no trend toward survival benefit is seen in elderly patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease(Shepherd et al., 2002). A less favorable risk-benefit profile may particularly hold for patients older than 85, in whom benefits may be more attenuated and risks more amplified (Weverling-Rijnsburger et al., 1997). In fact, in this older group, higher cholesterol has been linked observationally to improved survival."
The above taken from here.
http://www.drdach.com/Cholesterol_Statin_Elderly.htmlAlso one of my many blog posts.
Memo to Sir Rory Statin Gissa Job
"Gissa Job ! I can do that !" Yosser Hughes
Anyone with an interest in statin drugs in the UK, knows of Sir Rory Collins. Rory promotes statins, he believes they are life savers and wonderful drugs. Now, I am sure Rory is a paragon of integrity, and his honesty is beyond reproach, hence I want a job working for him. The job will be well paid and secure, as his outfit must be awash with money, received from big pharma. Zoe Harcombe stated yesterday here.
"The web of funding around Collins, CTT, CTSU (Clinical Trial Service Unit) has proved astoundingly difficult to get to the bottom of. I had a bit of a breakthrough recently and came across a declaration of interest for Colin Baigent – CTT secretariat and close senior colleague of Collins. Check page five for current and recent grants. The following have been awarded to Colin Baigent and Rory Collins, (with other names mentioned alongside):
Merck & Schering £39 MILLION (2002-2011)
Merck £52 MILLION (2005-2013)
British Heart Foundation £9 MILLION (2005-2013) (Where does the BHF get that kind of money?) & then another grant from the BHF for £2.7 MILLION (2004-2013) & then a couple more for several hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Medical Research Council £13.8 MILLION (2008-2013) (Check the most recent appointees to the MRC - a Senior Vice President of Pfizer and Executive Vice President of Astra Zeneca).
Bayer A mere £965,000
John Wyeth Ltd £500,000
Novartis £350,000
That’s £114 MILLION before you get into the small change."
Statins are a $30 billion a year earner, yet no proof exists that you will live any longer if you take them. The benefits are minimal and the list of side effects long. Just as many people have heart attacks and strokes with so call 'good cholesterol' numbers as those with so called 'bad cholesterol numbers', that is a fact. The fact that so much money has to be pumped into the 24/7 sell job by the statinators should tell you something, what other drug, or in fact any service or product has been sold as hard as statins ? none that I can think of.
Come on Rory Gissa Job, any chance of an S Class Merc company motor ?
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