the scam of the new heart attack risk calculator

The new heart attack risk calculator is such that nearly every senior age man will be prescribed statins under the new statin guidelines. Is that really how it is supposed to work?

Test it yourself. I put in a 70 year old man 150 TC, 70 HDL, 110 systolic, non-smoker, no meds (ie the picture of health - noone is that perfect :)). He still needs statins. Am I doing the math wrong?
http://cvdrisk.nhlbi.nih.gov/calculator.asp

You do get a lot of bonus points for being a woman.

I fully expect diabetes rates to increase due to more statins being prescribed (I think someone I know got diabetes from statins, though an individual case is probably not provable - their blood sugar is decreasing off statins plus lifestyles changes though and yes even the FDA warns of this now).

The influence that profit-motivated drug companies have on medical care frightens me to death. Diabetes is a cash cow for pharmaceutical companies - live long and buy meds continually - and it sounds like statins are another cash cow that feeds into the first one.

It should be a personal decision, thankfully it still is, whether to take any drug or allow any procedure. I refuse statins and truly feel that the changes in "rules" are more to increase the drug companies profit than to increase health. (hubby worked for a huge pharma company) They love nothing more than chronic "conditions" they can medicate forever.

My genes are good, I am losing weight and exercising, never smoked.

Even the experts say it is impossible to find an expert panel that does not have extensive ties to the pharm companies involved.

A lot of cardiologists and primary care doctors who don't necessarily have skin in the game are totally sold on the benefits of statins. Years ago when they first came out, I heard cardiologists say that everyone should be on them--kind of like the recommendation for daily low-dose aspiring today. When I had my physical, my doctor told me I should be on a statin. I have no risk of heart disease, I have very high HDL, take no other medications, and my blood pressure is normal. Still, he said that he would want his own parents on them daily--that everyone should be. In his eyes, they are the fountain of youth.

I respectfully declined his offer.

As for the Big Pharma hand in this, yes, you can be sure they aren't sitting there reading this news saying, "Well, what do you know!" However, statins are generic now, so the big winners are going to be the makers of generics, and generics have a MUCH lower price tag. That being said, this isn't lost on Big Pharma, and many companies are looking into "branded generics" in order to increase the price of the "generic generics."

Yes, this is great news for Pharma. Personally, I don't believe in magic bullets, especially ones you have to pay for for the rest of your life to benefit from. I'll take my chances with my fruits and veggies and daily walks.


ETA: I just did the calculator and came up with 2% risk.

I ran my actual figures through the calculator. It gave me less than 1% risk. This corresponds very closely with the huge Archimedes algorithm risk calculation I ran last year - took literally hours for the computer to crunch the data, and it asked for a LOT of data, as well as the Kaiser Permanente in-house risk calculator.

I wouldn't take statins even if they should be prescribed. I'm not sold on the cholesterol hypothesis, and think that whatever benefit statins may have for younger men who have already had a heart attack (the group for whom statins do help), it's probably to do with reducing inflammation. Should my inflammation markers rise, I'd work on diet and lifestyle.

Yea when I put in a woman with the same hypotheticals they came out low risk (mucho bonus points for not being a man). I think there is a very specific group the test says should be on statins REGARDLESS of what their other figures are: older men (the 70 year old man in my example). Now they don't' come out and say this: all elderly men should be on statins, but that's in there. Which would make sense if they really believe everyone should be on statins if only they could (let's put it in the water - no doubt some alrelady is :( ) but it wont' make sense to most people if they realized you are medicating a normal human condition: being male and getting older (even if they were the healthiest older man imaginable).

It's a massive money-making scam. The Australian Heart Association is up in arms because ABC's Catalyst did a two-part expose' and people are starting to ask pertinent questions. There is no proof that statins save or extend lives in any but one tiny group of middle-aged men who have had heart attacks. And even at that the number needed to treat is high. Every single person I have personally known has had horrendous side effects from taking them, including unbearable muscle pain, kidney damage, and confusion. But boy oh boy are statins a bonanza for Pharma.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLR2OKesTw0

Edited to add: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/op...ins.html?_r=1&

Most people who have heart attacks have low or normal cholesterol. I wouldn't take a statin for any reason.

As a matter of fact, most men over 40 have artery disease, probably almost 100% over 65, so the hypothetical in the OP makes perfect sense to me.

Quote:

---

As a matter of fact, most men over 40 have artery disease, probably almost 100% over 65, so the hypothetical in the OP makes perfect sense to me.

---

So what? Most men when they die have the beginnings of prostrate cancer. But noone cares because they will die of other things first and this is the case even if they die at quite a ripe old age, it just doesn't develop enough to cause any threat to the natural lifespan (if people were immortal then yes it would be a problem). It seems to me that even if all men have artery disease the same principle applies, it will pose no threat to many of their natural lifespans, so it's treating men that don't need to be treated with meds that are not without side effects.

I think if they don't come out and say "yes this calculator is pretty much designed so every older man will show they should get statins", there's an element of dishonesty to it as well. People might think it's only because their x number is high or something, when it's really just that they think all older men should be on statins - and one can make their decision accordingly knowing that.

Not to mention that if your BP is 120/80, you're now considered "pre-hypertensive." yes, we are all supposed to be below that number now. Bah.