Comments on: Statins might benefit healthy people http://gdisauro.com/2008/11/statins-benefit-healthy-people/ Giovanna Di Sauro's blog and website, a place where you can learn about science, technology, and get to know me a little better. Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:18:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: <img class="monsterid" src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=12b940ba6e4678ddd0f86c0d20c852e9&&;size=45&default=http://gdisauro.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-monsterid/monsterid/4310f3e7c4e9abb.png" alt="gio MonsterID Icon" height="45" width="45"/> gio http://gdisauro.com/2008/11/statins-benefit-healthy-people/comment-page-1/#comment-1641 gio MonsterID Icon gio Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:58:25 +0000 http://gdisauro.com/?p=127#comment-1641 Heart attacks in the United States have been calculated to affect around 1 in 36 or 2.76%, or 7.5 million people in total. That means that you would expect around 3.3% of your 120 people to get a heart attack in the course of your study (numbers come with big caveats<a href="http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/admin/preval.htm#rates" rel="nofollow"> here</a>). Of course, they say that people were apparently healthy, and according to that, their results <b>would</b> translate in a reduction in the frequency of attacks. However, the BMI does raise concerns – and yes, we do not know whether these people were also given help in avoiding diabetes given that many of them were nearly obese. To be honest, it's the diabetes numbers that raise the most concerns for me, as this is not the first time they pop up in a study on statins. In addition to that, the amount of personal interests involved is another major issue – I think the study is valuable, but absolutely needs independent confirmation in a publicly funded study before anybody starts prescribing statins left and right. Heart attacks in the United States have been calculated to affect around 1 in 36 or 2.76%, or 7.5 million people in total. That means that you would expect around 3.3% of your 120 people to get a heart attack in the course of your study (numbers come with big caveats here). Of course, they say that people were apparently healthy, and according to that, their results would translate in a reduction in the frequency of attacks.

However, the BMI does raise concerns – and yes, we do not know whether these people were also given help in avoiding diabetes given that many of them were nearly obese.

To be honest, it’s the diabetes numbers that raise the most concerns for me, as this is not the first time they pop up in a study on statins. In addition to that, the amount of personal interests involved is another major issue – I think the study is valuable, but absolutely needs independent confirmation in a publicly funded study before anybody starts prescribing statins left and right.

]]> By: <img class="monsterid" src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=7a29eaa47af175f056b183abb4203807&&;size=45&default=http://gdisauro.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-monsterid/monsterid/59f2aa2785d9426.png" alt="eml256 MonsterID Icon" height="45" width="45"/> eml256 http://gdisauro.com/2008/11/statins-benefit-healthy-people/comment-page-1/#comment-1602 eml256 MonsterID Icon eml256 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:10:34 +0000 http://gdisauro.com/?p=127#comment-1602 Merrill goozner points out that: the median BMI (body mass index) was 28.3--thus at least 50% of participants were overweight and at least 1/3 would be categorized as obese. And also that "41 percent had metabolic syndrome, a suite of conditions that suggests the person is well down the road to developing Type II diabetes." http://www.gooznews.com/archives/001243.html "The group on rosuvastatin developed diabetes at a higher rate than the group given a placebo, 3.0 percent versus 2.4 percent, an increase of six-tenths of a percentage point... ...While the overall rate of cardiovascular incidents fell from 2.8 percent to 1.6 percent by giving the statin, the number of so-called hard events -- heart attacks and strokes, including those that were fatal -- fell from 1.7 percent in the placebo group to 0.9 percent in the statin group, a drop of eight-tenths of a percentage point. In other words, for every person who didn't get a serious cardiovascular event, three-quarters of a person got diabetes. ...In this trial, 120 patients had to be treated for 1.9 years to prevent one serious cardiac event." Does that really impress you? 120 peopl;e must take crestor for 1.7 yrs for 1 person to avoid a cardiovascular event??? Merrill goozner points out that: the median BMI (body mass index) was 28.3–thus at least 50% of participants were overweight and at least 1/3 would be categorized as obese. And also that “41 percent had metabolic syndrome, a suite of conditions that suggests the person is well down the road to developing Type II diabetes.”
http://www.gooznews.com/archives/001243.html
“The group on rosuvastatin developed diabetes at a higher rate than the group given a placebo, 3.0 percent versus 2.4 percent, an increase of six-tenths of a percentage point…

…While the overall rate of cardiovascular incidents fell from 2.8 percent to 1.6 percent by giving the statin, the number of so-called hard events — heart attacks and strokes, including those that were fatal — fell from 1.7 percent in the placebo group to 0.9 percent in the statin group, a drop of eight-tenths of a percentage point.

In other words, for every person who didn’t get a serious cardiovascular event, three-quarters of a person got diabetes.
…In this trial, 120 patients had to be treated for 1.9 years to prevent one serious cardiac event.”
Does that really impress you? 120 peopl;e must take crestor for 1.7 yrs for 1 person to avoid a cardiovascular event???

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