‘Statistical deception and trickery’ is at the heart of many research studies on statins, according to a study of past research into statins, from an expert in molecular pharmacology Dr. David M. Diamond (a professor at the University of South Florida), and an expert in cardiovascular disease and cholesterol, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov (Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology).
The report is clear: “Advocates have used statistical deception to create the illusion that statins are ‘wonder drugs,’ when the reality is that their modest benefits are more than offset by their adverse effectThe two researchers say the problem lies with using relative risk rather than absolute risk – so the research says how well one group do over another group; not how well they do, full stop.
For example the researchers wrote:
“In the Jupiter trial (on Crestor), the public and healthcare workers were informed of a 54 percent reduction in heart attacks, when the actual effect in reduction of coronary events was less than 1 percentage point.”
“In the ASCOT-LLA, which was terminated early because it was considered to have such outstanding results, there were heart attacks and deaths in 3% of the placebo (no treatment) group as compared to 1.9% in the Lipitor group.”
“The improvement in outcome with Lipitor treatment was only 1.1 percentage point, but when this study was presented to the public, the advertisements used the inflated (relative risk) statistic, which transformed the 1.1% effect into a 36% reduction in heart attack risk.”
Statins have come under increasing attack after links to increased diabetes risk, eyesight problems and even a heightened risk of stroke and cardiovascular problems. Only recently, we covered the need of adequate cholesterol for good brain function.
