[Grovenet] something else to ponder

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Gee, at least Nostradamus predicted the end of the world, not just a TV from
Apple! ;-)

Here's what I ponder every time I get my cholesterol checked and some ratio
or another is different from the current recommendations (which change
almost daily): 

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm

"Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?

"Research suggests that, except among high-risk heart patients, the benefits
of statins such as Lipitor are overstated"

According to the article that subhead is the understatement of the year. For
example: "...no benefit in people over the age of 65, no matter how much
their cholesterol declines, and no benefit in women of any age." and
"...many researchers harbor doubts about the need to drive down cholesterol
levels in the first place. Those doubts were strengthened on Jan. 14, when
Merck and Schering-Plough (SGP) revealed results of a trial in which one
popular cholesterol-lowering drug, a statin, was fortified by another,
Zetia, which operates by a different mechanism. The combination did succeed
in forcing down patients' cholesterol further than with just the statin
alone. But even with two years of treatment, the further reductions brought
no health benefit."

What? Low Cholesterol levels aren't the magic elixir of extended life? They
don't even have a measurable benefit? 

"The numbers 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."

Of course that assumes the study was statistically significant. That is,
that the one person out of the 100 wouldn't have gotten the heart attack
even if not in the study. 

No clear answers anywhere these days. Perhaps there never was -

Ron D'Eau Claire 



-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Alan Domenghini
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:23 PM
To: GroveNet at rdrop.com
Subject: [Grovenet] something else to ponder


Ten likely events in 2008 - BusinessWeek.com - MSNBC.com