Statins and other Cholesterol Lowering Medications

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Drug News and Health Blog of Doug Bremner, MD.

Blog postings and excerpts from Before You Take That Pill on statins and cholesterol lowering drugs

Blog postings

February 17, 2008. Do Statins Make You Stupid??
If you have been reading this blog you might have come to the conclusion as I have
that only stupid women take statins to prevent heart attacks or death
and that only stupid men think that it will save their lives if they don't have a
prior history of heart disease. But now there is increasing attention to the fact that
these drugs might affect memory and cognition, which means that statins like Lipitor may
also make you... well... stupid. [More]...

February 8, 2008.
Dr. Jarvik Update: He Can't Prescribe or Row
I've always wondered why anyone would buy Lipitor from a doctor that made an artificial heart that usually
killed people within one year. But give credit to John Mack for outing that Dr. Jarvik didn't have prescribing priviledges,
and now we discover that Dr. Jarvik not only doesn't prescribe statins, but he also
wasn't actually rowing the boat in his Lipitor commercials on TV. [Read more]...

January 17, 2008.
Delays and Suppression of Clinical Trial Study Results: A Tale of Two Deceptions
This has been an interesting week for medical news. First there was the announcement that the
cholesterol lowering drug Vytorin does not prevent the development of atherosclerotic plaque better than Zocor alone. If anything
Vytorin (which combines Zetia (ezetimibe) with the statin Zocor (simvastatin)) is worse for plaque than Zocor alone;
in spite of the fact that Vytorin reduces cholesterol to lower levels than Zocor, it isn’t better at preventing heart attacks and strokes.... [more]...

January 16, 2008.
ZETIA, SCHMETIA
Recently some unsettling news has come from the FDA about the risks of the cholesterol
lowering medication Vytorin. Data not previously revealed from the manufacturer
Merck/Schering-Plough from the ENHANCE trial of Vytorin (a combination of Zetia
(Ezetimibe) and the statin drug Zocor (simvastatin)) showed that although it
lowered LDL cholesterol better, it did not reduce atherosclerotic plaque any better
than simvastatin, when given alone. In fact, if anything Vytorin seemed to make atherosclerotic
plaque worse and it hasn't been shown to prevent heart attack and stroke... [more]

October 10, 2007. Don't Start Crowing Yet Over WOSCOPS Follow-up Study.
Researchers of the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS) published a 15 year followup
study of their patients who were
originally randomized to the statin pravastatin versus placebo for five years. They reported a
25% reduction in coronary events and a statistically significant reduction in mortality. However a closer examination
of the data shows that although Pravachol reduces mortality and reduces heart attacks it is also associated with an increase in prostate cancer... [more]

October 6, 2007.
Should I Give My Wife a Statin? Do I Dare To Eat a Peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers and walk upon the beach. You may have read that
heart disease is under diagnosed in women, and that they are missing potential treatments
that could save their lives. However, women without heart disease have not been shown to benefit from
statin medications like Lipitor, Pravachol or Zocor in terms of heart attack prevention... [more]

September 29, 2007. That Statin is Killing My Tennis Game.
I was playing tennis today in the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA) league,
and my doubles partner developed pain in his calf muscle. It turns out that this was a recurring problem,
which he had linked to statin use (for lowering cholesterol) which can cause muscle pain...

Articles and book excerpts

Statin Drugs for Cholesterol Lowering Won't Necessarily Save Your Life
Many people think that taking a statin drug to lower your cholesterol will keep you from
dying of a heart attack, but that isn't necessarily the case, even if your cholesterol level
goes down with a statin. For men who don't have familial hypercholesterolemia or don't have
risk factors for heart disease, statins like Pravachol, Lipitor and Zocor haven't been shown to
prevent heart attacks. For men with risk factors they will prevent heart attacks in some (but not all)
but they won't prevent death from heart disease... [FULL ARTICLE]

Do Women Need To Take Statins To Prevent Heart Disease?
Do statin medications like Lipitor prevent heart attacks in women? If you are a woman can you benefit
from taking a statin medication to lower your cholesterol? The answer for women without a prior history of heart disease is...probably not. [FULL ARTICLE]

Does Plavix and other Platelet Inhibiting Prescription Drugs Prevent Heart Attacks?
Prescription medications like Plavix (clopidogrel) have been developed for the prevention of heart attacks,
Is Plavix (clopidogrel) really better than aspirin, which is much cheaper? And are there any hidden side effects? [FULL ARTICLE]

Does Taking a Daily Aspirin Prevent a Heart Attack?
We all should be taking a daily aspirin to prevent a heart attack, right? Actually what most people don't
know is that in people without a history of heart disease the risk of having a stomach bleed that can be potentially life threatening outweighs the benefits of aspirin in
preventing heart attacks, making the benefits of aspirin... well... not beneficial. [FULL ARTICLE]

Changes in Diet and Exercise Are Better Than Prescription Drugs for Preventing Heart Attack Recurrence
Cholesterol lowering medications can reduce the risk of recurrent heart attack if you have a history of heart disease.
But did you know that changing your diet and exercise patterns are twice as good as
statin medications like Lipitor and Pravachol for preventing a recurrent heart attack? [FULL ARTICLE]

Fish Oil In the Prevention of Heart Disease
Fish oil has been promoted for the prevention of heart attacks based on the high concentrations
of omega 3 fatty acids. But is there any evidence of true benefit of fish oil which is high in omega 3 fatty acids in the
prevention of heart attacks in people without heart disease? Are there any risks? [FULL ARTICLE]

Herbs and Supplements and other Natural Remedies For The Prevention Of Heart Disease.
A number of herbs and supplements are promoted for the prevention of heart attacks.
But is there any scientific evidence that they are effective? This article reviews studies of
natural herbs and supplements, including soy, fenugreek, green tea, Coenzyme Q, cholestin, and red rice yeast extract,
promoted for the prevention and treatment of heart disease and heart attacks. [FULL ARTICLE]

Doug Bremner, MD, is a physician and researcher in Atlanta GA and author of Before You Take That Pill:
Why the Drug Industry May be Bad for Your Health: Risks and Side Effects You Won't Find on the Label of
Commonly Prescribed Drugs, Vitamins and Supplements

Doug Bremner, MD, is a physician
and researcher in Atlanta GA
and author of Before You Take That Pill:
Why the Drug Industry May be
Bad for Your Health

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