High Cholestrol

[Cowabunga]

Statins—should we adjust the risk:benefit ratio?

The prevailing opinion that statins are an elixir for long life was challenged with the recent publication of the Cochrane review, Statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. After analysing 16 trial arms with 34 272 participants, the authors found no evidence of harm, and...

www.thelancet.com

Risk‐benefit analysis of use of statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in subjects without diabetes

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The risks and benefits copied for educational purpose from the above second link. I've highlighted in bold the benefits although at the end it also lists an apparent small increased risk of diabetes. Basically its your body and if you think that the risks of adverse cardiac events are low or that the risks associated with taking statins are too high for you, do what you think best for yourself.

Diabetes, prediabetes and metabolic syndrome are associated with a two‐ to threefold increased risk for cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality7. In a meta‐analysis of the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists Collaboration involving 169,138 individuals from 26 randomized studies which recruited at least 1,000 patients with at least 2 years' treatment duration, the authors concluded that for every 1 mmol/L reduction in low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), there was a 22% reduction in all vascular events and 10% in all‐cause mortality, mainly as a result of coronary heart disease and other cardiac causes. These clinical benefits remained consistent in all subgroup analyses stratified by age, sex, obesity, presence and types of diabetes, concomitant cardiovascular risk factors, and history of prior cardiovascular or renal events3.

The latest Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin trial (JUPITER) study4 recruited subjects without diabetes and LDL‐C <3.3 mmol/L with no prior history of cardiovascular disease, but high levels of high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein > 2.0 mmol/L. After 1.9 years, the trial was stopped prematurely because of a 44% reduction in the primary cardiovascular end‐point in the rosuvastatin group compared with the placebo group, although there was a higher incidence of physician‐reported diabetes in the rosuvastatin group. In a subsequent analysis involving 13 statin trials (which included JUPITER) with 91,140 participants, of whom 4,278 developed diabetes during a mean of 4 years, statin therapy was associated with a 9% increased risk for incident diabetes, which was not influenced by the degree of LDL‐C lowering

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

In reading the blog I linked to above and others that took me to it I learnt that The Cholesterol Trialists Collaboration have been reticent to fully reveal their vested interests and funding sources and flatly refuse to release their knowledge of serious adverse events from statin use.

 

[Cowabunga]

In reading the blog I linked to above and others that took me to it I learnt that The Cholesterol Trialists Collaboration have been reticent to fully reveal their vested interests and funding sources and flatly refuse to release their knowledge of serious adverse events from statin use.

Why are you so bothered while simultaneously taking a dose four times higher than most people as I understand you? If you believe it to be some kind of conspiracy, why are you taking the stuff? Yes, l know your consultant has told you to, but you seem to repeatedly throw doubt on its efficacy and safety by creating or, for all I know, perpetuating a conspiracy theory. Ask yourself whether this is rational behaviour.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Why are you so bothered while simultaneously taking a dose four times higher than most people as I understand you? If you believe it to be some kind of conspiracy, why are you taking the stuff? Yes, l know your consultant has told you to, but you seem to repeatedly throw doubt on its efficacy and safety by creating or, for all I know, perpetuating a conspiracy theory. Ask yourself whether this is rational behaviour.

I'm still taking them as prescribed for now (but will be having a robust discussion around their benefits after my coming heart MRI). I will leave the matter after this but wanted people to realise that their benefits are not without risk as the majority of the cardiology profession claim and that some professionals promoting them have significant financial interests in doing so.

There are always 2 sides to a story, even if only one is generally made public.

 

[DaveGrohl]

http://www.sefofcouncil.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/news150825_2.pdf

Whilst I'm quite well versed in researching diet, cholesterol and the metabolic diseases of our modern lifestyles, I haven't been particularly enthusiastic about researching statins per se thus far. I would have something to say to my doctor if he said he'd like me to go onto a statin however, and would like to research the subject before taking any. I realise there are quite a few FF members who are on statins and I wouldn't dare to give any advice in this regard however I feel that the above paper may be of interest to some. I wouldn't rule out taking statins myself but my understanding is that they are useful in a specific circumstance, and I'd rather avoid getting myself into that circumstance in the first place if at all possible.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

After years of trying this research team have managed to get their paper published.

(PDF) The LDL Paradox: Higher LDL-Cholesterol is Associated with Greater Longevity of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

PDF | Objective: In a previous review of 19 follow-up studies, we found that elderly people with high Low-Density-Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) live... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

www.researchgate.net

It shows a clear trend across a global dataset linking cholesterol level to increased death rates. The inconvenient fact is that it's LOWER cholesterol that associates with HIGHER death rates.

Make of it what you will.

Btw I have now halved my statin dose and am waiting for a chance to discuss whether I should be in them at all with my own doctor (having been signed off by the cardiology team as my heart MRI result was way better than that of the heart echo scans they'd been using).

 

[DaveGrohl]

After years of trying this research team have managed to get their paper published.

(PDF) The LDL Paradox: Higher LDL-Cholesterol is Associated with Greater Longevity of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

PDF | Objective: In a previous review of 19 follow-up studies, we found that elderly people with high Low-Density-Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C) live... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

www.researchgate.net

It shows a clear trend across a global dataset linking cholesterol level to increased death rates. The inconvenient fact is that it's LOWER cholesterol that associates with HIGHER death rates.

Make of it what you will.

Btw I have now halved my statin dose and am waiting for a chance to discuss whether I should be in them at all with my own doctor (having been signed off by the cardiology team as my heart MRI result was way better than that of the heart echo scans they'd been using).

The thing is, the data always did point to cholesterol not being the problem that it was made out to be. It's amazing how throughout history concensus turns out to be wrong. I mean we don't have to look much further than the media to see numerous examples of this bizarre phenomenon.

 

[Gordy1]

My dad suffered from hardening of the arteries back in the 70s, & had to be on tablets for the rest of his life, when I was told I had a cholesterol count of 6.9 I looked into it & hardening of the arteries was one of the effects of high cholesterol, so worried me a bit but hardening of the arteries can be inherited so don’t know if it was high cholesterol that caused it or not....so still trying to get it down a bit.

 

[jamesmartin]

21 years ago a had a mild heart attack when i was 36,it was mild cos i was 36 if it hadnt occurred til 20 years later it would have been far worse as instead of a tiny piece of artery blocked it would have been far more,turned out i had high cholestrol over 10, ive been on 60mg of statins plus a booster called ezetimbe, which also helps with cholestrol but isnt a statin ,as they didnt want to give me the max statin dose for the last 21 years,i was told at the time very high cholestrol had little to do with diet as it was your liver producing too much, it has reduced my muscle mass and give me aches and pains but im still reasonably fit and healthy