Why I won’t take statins for my high cholesterol - Julianne

Why I won’t take statins for my high cholesterol

In Summary, for those who took the statin for 5 years (with known heart disease):

Benefits in NNT

• 1 in 83 were helped (life saved)
• 1 in 39 were helped (preventing non-fatal heart attack)
• 1 in 125 were helped (preventing stroke)

Harms in NNH

• 1 in 100 were harmed (develop diabetes*)
• 1 in 10 were harmed (muscle damage)

If you have had a heart attack and change your diet to a Mediterranean diet – you will get far more benefit than Statin drugs:

In Summary, for those who adhered to the Mediterranean diet:

Benefits in NNT

• 1 in 18 were helped (preventing repeat heart attack)
• 1 in 30 were helped (preventing death)
• 1 in 30 were helped (preventing cancer)

Harms in NNH

• None were harmed

 

 

And if you want to prevent heart disease the Mediterranean diet is also far more effective than statin drugs:

 

In Summary, for those who ate the Mediterranean diet:

Benefits in NNT

• 1 in 61 were helped (avoiding a stroke, heart attack, or death)

Harms in NNH

• None were harmed (diet effects)

Read the full article here.

The effect of statins on average survival in randomised trials, an analysis of end point postponement

1. Malene Lopez Kristensen, 
2. Palle Mark Christensen, 
3. Jesper Hallas
5. Objective To estimate the average postponement of death in statin trials.
6. Primary outcome measures The average postponement of death as represented by the area between the survival curves.
   Results 6 studies for primary prevention and 5 for secondary prevention with a follow-up between 2.0 and 6.1 years were identified. Death was postponed between −5 and 19 days in primary prevention trials and between −10 and 27 days in secondary prevention trials. The median postponement of death for primary and secondary prevention trials were 3.2 and 4.1 days, respectively.
7. Conclusions Statin treatment results in a surprisingly small average gain in overall survival within the trials’ running time. For patients whose life expectancy is limited or who have adverse effects of treatment, withholding statin therapy should be considered.

Strengths and limitations of this study

• This is the first study ever to systematically evaluate statin trials using average postponement of death as the primary outcome.
• We have only estimated the survival gain achieved within the trials’ running time, whereas in real life, treatment is often continued much longer.
• We have only focused on all-cause mortality. Other outcomes may also be relevant, for example, non-fatal cardiovascular end points.

Read the complete article here.