Although you posted an article, I forwarded this question to Dr. Aklog, this was his response:
Simple answer – No. Although many patients are, and should be on statins, like all drugs, they should be used to treat specific conditions according to specific guidelines. These include patients with abnormal cholesterol profiles, usually an elevated LDL or “bad” cholesterol and those who have had a history of a cardiovascular event such as a stroke, heart attack, angioplasty or bypass surgery. At this point there is no solid evidence to support using statins for patients who have not had such an event and have normal cholesterol profiles. This is called primary prevention. There may be a subset of patients (e.g. patients with other elevated markers such as CRP or those with multiple risk factors for heart disease) who might benefit from statins but we just don’t have the data yet to put everybody on it.
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Hi Alison,
Although you posted an article, I forwarded this question to Dr. Aklog, this was his response:
Simple answer – No. Although many patients are, and should be on statins, like all drugs, they should be used to treat specific conditions according to specific guidelines. These include patients with abnormal cholesterol profiles, usually an elevated LDL or “bad” cholesterol and those who have had a history of a cardiovascular event such as a stroke, heart attack, angioplasty or bypass surgery. At this point there is no solid evidence to support using statins for patients who have not had such an event and have normal cholesterol profiles. This is called primary prevention. There may be a subset of patients (e.g. patients with other elevated markers such as CRP or those with multiple risk factors for heart disease) who might benefit from statins but we just don’t have the data yet to put everybody on it.
September 25, 2009 - 5:55amThis Comment
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