THE MURKY SIDE OF STATINS page1

THE MURKY SIDE OF STATINS  pg1

 Under the current cholesterol-based guidelines, 80 million people should be taking statins.   50% of them are. You may be one of them.

There is mounting concern that statins may not be safe as a preventive medicine as previously believed.  The benefits may not outweigh any side effects for a healthy person to take statins. There is great skepticism about healthy people taking a long-term stain.

THE NEW STATIN

When doctors look for new statin  candidates, they measure the degree of inflammation in the body rather than look for bad cholesterol.   Yet there is no good medical evidence that inflammation is a direct cause of heart problems.

 There is a push now for a newly approved statin, Crestor,  to market a new advertising campaign for healthy people to take this product. The food and drug administration recently approved the drug for use in normal healthy people. This will add another 6 ½ million people who have no cholesterol problems and no signs of heart disease to be candidates for statins.

 The drug will be peddled  to men over 50 and women over 60.  All you must show is one factor like smoking, any rise in blood pressure, in addition to a blood test called CPA, showing some elevated inflammation in your body.

 Despite this, the FDA approved a new use for statins in normal people because of a recent medical  clinical trial with Crestor.    It  showed a very small reduction in strokes, heart attacks and other heart problems in people who took this drug.

 Now the deputy director of the FDA, Dr. Colman, said that this was not a mandate for doctors and patients but an option. Crestor statin was  approved in December by a 12 to 4 vote.  Dissenters questioned the value of the CPA test that measures elevated levels of body inflammation.

DIABETES RISKS

There  exists a risk of taking statins and the development of diabetes. Lancet, a British medical journal, reported concerns showing  that statins increase a healthy person’s risk of developing type II diabetes by 9%.  ( Lancet. 2010;375:735-742. Epub 2010 Feb 16)

Although most statin trials to date had not found a relationship between statin use and diabetes incidence, the recent JUPITER (Crestor 20mg Versus Placebo in Prevention of Cardiovascular (CV) Events)[1] trial that reported an increased risk for diabetes in patients assigned to the rosuvastatin arm seconded concerns raised several years ago when the PROSPER (PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk)[2] trial reported similar findings with pravastatin. However, most trials had not looked at diabetes as a secondary outcome

It is possible that patients who developed diabetes were more dysglycemic, and that statins gave them a small "nudge" converting them to diabetes.

WOMEN AND STATINS

Time magazine article March 23, 2010 Catherine Elton

examined the relative risks and benefits of statins for women. 

Millions of healthy American women are taking statins, which have never been shown to reduce MI or lengthen life and have an untold number of side effects, worse in women than men."

 The article questions whether lipid lowering medications have value in women and do statins work equally for men and women?.

 Women certainly have a lower risk of coronary heart disease than men at any age and over entire lifetime. Because of this they may not reach risk thresholds that indicate need for the drug. Yet heart disease is the leading killer of women and status are believed to be effective and safe.

Women have a lower absolute risk of ischemic events than men.   Women also have fewer hospitalizations for unstable angina and revascularization.  One must weigh the risks and benefits as well as the relative costs. Muscle damage is also a bit more common in women.

 Yet women are more likely than men to suffer severe side effects from statins and other drugs. Women also tend to be older when they are prescribed  statins, are more likely to develop diabetes than men, and It is possible that hormonal fluctuations and lower body weights play a role. 

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As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.