Opinion

... in response to Statins for all over 55: Study
  1. Statistical lies
    peter dingle peter dingle Australia says:
    May 9, 2011 at 11:00 PM

    What an absurd and stupidly ridiculous concept. The research on statins is more about the statistics than science.

    The absolute statistical benefit from taking statin drugs for prevention is around 1% or less. That is if you treat 100 people you might reduce the risk of CVD by 1 person. Yes just one person. It doesn't matter what study they all show the same absolute statistic.

    In comes the drug company statistician and you have it converted to relative statistics and somewhere between 20 and 48%. Nothing has changed only the statistics.

    The side effects are up in the 20-40% range (absolute statistics or if you want to use relative statistics around 30000% increase).
    Using statin drugs increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 0.9%. About the same as the lowering of CVD.

    The epidemiology of tea drinking suggests that the benefit from drinking green tea is about the same as taking statins and there are no negative side effects. Why not get all the over 55's a subsidy to drink green tea?

    Reply
The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
(Logout)
Post

Terms

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

Provide Feedback