{"id":1535,"date":"2010-05-21T16:12:10","date_gmt":"2010-05-21T20:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/%e2%80%a2statins-in-the-real-world-the-good-and-the-bad\/"},"modified":"2011-07-19T17:44:57","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T21:44:57","slug":"statins-in-the-real-world-the-good-and-the-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/2010\/05\/21\/statins-in-the-real-world-the-good-and-the-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Statins in the Real World: The Good and the Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To ascertain unintended effects of statins, researchers in the U.K. analyzed data from more than 2 million patients, including 200,000 patients taking statins for the first time. In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/cgi\/content\/abstract\/340\/may19_4\/c2197\">a paper in <em>BMJ<\/em><\/a>, the researchers found a reduced risk for esophageal cancer among statin users, and an increased risk for&nbsp;moderate or serious liver dysfunction, acute renal failure, moderate to serious myopathy, and cataracts, as well as evidence of a dose-response effect for acute renal failure and liver dysfunction. The NNT to prevent one case of cardiovascular disease over 5 years was 37 for women and and 33 for men. In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/cgi\/content\/full\/340\/may19_4\/c2240\">an accompanying editorial<\/a>, Alawi Alsheikh-Ali and Richard Karas, conclude that &#8220;when used according to current guidelines, the benefits outweigh the risks,&#8221; and write that &#8220;it would be wise to interpret the present observations&nbsp;in the context of the confirmed cardioprotective effects of statins and remind ourselves and our patients that these drugs,&nbsp;although considered safe, are, like any intervention in medicine,&nbsp;not entirely free of adverse events. We should neither overstate&nbsp;the size of the benefit of statins, nor exaggerate their side&nbsp;effects.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To ascertain unintended effects of statins, researchers in the U.K. analyzed data from more than 2 million patients, including 200,000 patients taking statins for the first time. In a paper in BMJ, the researchers found a reduced risk for esophageal cancer among statin users, and an increased risk for&nbsp;moderate or serious liver dysfunction, acute renal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}