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Health & Wellness News From Byron J. Richards
Framingham’s Faulty Risk Data Drives Statin SalesWednesday, January 07, 2009 - Byron Richards, CCNIn the world of fast-food medicine doctors utilize lab test numbers, family history, and lifestyle factors to help decide whether or not to place patients on statin drugs. For the past decade they have relied on various risk tools based on data coming from the Framingham study. A new study shows that up to 26% of the people being given statins based on this commonly-used criteria have absolutely no plaque in their arteries! Said another way, 5 billion in statin sales per year are flat out fraud. It never ceases to amaze me how data is perverted and twisted for the purpose of drug sales. The Framingham study is responsible for opening the statin-prescribing flood gates based on the results of the study that claimed a 30% risk reduction for cardiovascular disease by lowering cholesterol. (Never mind that DHA-containing fish oil reduces risk by 50%). From this questionable data sprung an entire industry that uses Framingham-data equations to concoct risk at any age and then prescribe drugs. Quite interestingly, data from the actual Framingham study shows that lowering cholesterol does not improve all-cause mortality, except in people ages 40 to 50. Between ages 50 and 70 there is no improvement in overall mortality risk from lowering cholesterol. After age 80, low cholesterol clearly increases all cause mortality. A study of 4,500 Italians, ages 65 to 84, showed that those with total cholesterol levels below 189 had a significantly higher all-cause mortality than those with total cholesterol levels higher than 189. Doctors currently use this Framingham data, in a warped way, to routinely hand out statins to older Americans even though there is no evidence it will help them live longer. To the contrary, older Americans are now suffering 400,000 extra cases of heart failure per year! This new health problem correlates directly to increased statin use in this population. The statin fraud, like the bone drug fraud, is costing lives and the health of millions of Americans. Anyone taking these drugs is playing Russian roulette with their own health. There is no quick fix or short cut to being healthy – but there is a path. Related Entries: Fish Oil Helps Heart Patients – Statins Don’t Fish Oil Protects Japanese from Heart Disease Fish Oil Reduces Atrial Fibrillation and Sudden Death The Statin Scam Marches On Low HDL & Elevated Triglycerides are a Major Cardio Risk Factor ### Supplements that contain DHA Supplements that support cholesterol Other Health News
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