A new study just came out showing that cholesterol medications are not nearly as useful as we’ve been led to believe. Recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, this study looked at over 65,000 patients from 11 different studies who were at high risk for heart disease. The authors found that even in these high risk patients, the statin drugs do not save lives.
So why do we spend billions every year on these cholesterol lowering medications?
These medicines are costly, expensive, and have many side effects. Common sense says that if a patient does not already have heart disease, then they probably shouldn’t be taking a statin.
Reference: Statin and All-Cause Mortality in High Risk Primary Prevention: A Meta-Analysis of 11 Randomized Controlled Trials Involving 65, 229 Participants.