FDA Warns on Statins

[arikara]

60. The number of people that they actually help are far lower

than the drug companies would have you believe though.

...the drugs can be life-saving in patients who already have suffered heart attacks, somewhat reducing the chances of a recurrence that could lead to an early death. But Wright had a surprise when he looked at the data for the majority of patients, like Winn, who don't have heart disease. He found no benefit in people over the age of 65, no matter how much their cholesterol declines, and no benefit in women of any age. He did see a small reduction in the number of heart attacks for middle-aged men taking statins in clinical trials. But even for these men, there was no overall reduction in total deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalization—despite big reductions in "bad" cholesterol. "Most people are taking something with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm,..."

and they break it down to numbers

...Now do some simple math. The numbers in that sentence mean that for every 100 people in the trial, which lasted 3 1/3 years, three people on placebos and two people on Lipitor had heart attacks. The difference credited to the drug? One fewer heart attack per 100 people. So to spare one person a heart attack, 100 people had to take Lipitor for more than three years. The other 99 got no measurable benefit. Or to put it in terms of a little-known but useful statistic, the number needed to treat (or NNT) for one person to benefit is 100. ...

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

Now, how many bad side effects are those 99 people that don't even need those pills experiencing? I know several people who have had memory loss, muscle pains and increased blood sugar and have been on those drugs. I watched a vibrant lovely active woman of 80 quickly lose her memory after being put on those pills and she would not stop taking them because doctor is God. It is heartbreaking.