Will taking a statin reduce your incidence of a PE or DVT?
Will taking a statin reduce your incidence of a PE or DVT?
Before you trot over to your doctor and ask for a statin be sure to read the following--- all the way down to the end, please.
The American College of Chest Physicians in 2009 had a glowing report [oops, excuse me --- a Press Release) about statins:
"New research presented at CHEST 2009, the 75th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that patients with atherosclerosis receiving statin therapy had a significantly reduced risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) -- a collective term for DVT (blood clot) and pulmonary embolism (PE) -- than patients not on statin therapy. Furthermore, patients on a higher dose of statins had the least likelihood of developing VTE."
http://www.chestnet.org/accp/article/statins-may-help-prevent-blood-clots-patients-cardiovascular-disease
(my comment: I don't think the facts would support the term 'significantly reduced'!)
That same article took it back a notch in the next paragraph and said 'research has indicated an association'........
Looking for that association took me further to:
http://tinyurl.com/7sqo2s7
.... where the actual journal article was and I found this:
" The efficacy of statins in the primary prevention of VTE remains unproven."
And:
"but did not reduce the incidence of pulmonary embolism" but did reduce DVTs"There was only one statin used in that study and the authors hedged their bets by stating:
"Authors' conclusions
Available evidence showed that rosuvastatin was associated with a reduced incidence of VTE, but the evidence was limited to a single RCT. Randomised controlled trials of statins (including rosuvastatin) are needed to evaluate the efficacy of statins in the prevention of VTE."
Citation:Li L, Sun T, Zhang P, Tian J, Yang K. Statins for primary prevention of venous thromboembolism. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 12. Art. No.: CD008203. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008203.pub2.\
Moral? Don't believe all press reports. But those are often the only things most people read due to disinclination to read further.
I'll probably search to see if the ACCP has retracted that claim in later press releases.
Before you trot over to your doctor and ask for a statin be sure to read the following--- all the way down to the end, please.
The American College of Chest Physicians in 2009 had a glowing report [oops, excuse me --- a Press Release) about statins:
"New research presented at CHEST 2009, the 75th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that patients with atherosclerosis receiving statin therapy had a significantly reduced risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) -- a collective term for DVT (blood clot) and pulmonary embolism (PE) -- than patients not on statin therapy. Furthermore, patients on a higher dose of statins had the least likelihood of developing VTE."
http://www.chestnet.org/accp/article/statins-may-help-prevent-blood-clots-patients-cardiovascular-disease
(my comment: I don't think the facts would support the term 'significantly reduced'!)
That same article took it back a notch in the next paragraph and said 'research has indicated an association'........
Looking for that association took me further to:
http://tinyurl.com/7sqo2s7
.... where the actual journal article was and I found this:
" The efficacy of statins in the primary prevention of VTE remains unproven."
And:
"but did not reduce the incidence of pulmonary embolism" but did reduce DVTs"There was only one statin used in that study and the authors hedged their bets by stating:
"Authors' conclusions
Available evidence showed that rosuvastatin was associated with a reduced incidence of VTE, but the evidence was limited to a single RCT. Randomised controlled trials of statins (including rosuvastatin) are needed to evaluate the efficacy of statins in the prevention of VTE."
Citation:Li L, Sun T, Zhang P, Tian J, Yang K. Statins for primary prevention of venous thromboembolism. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 12. Art. No.: CD008203. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008203.pub2.\
Moral? Don't believe all press reports. But those are often the only things most people read due to disinclination to read further.
I'll probably search to see if the ACCP has retracted that claim in later press releases.
Replies
Now, on to statins and prevention of heart attacks:
Statin Adverse Effects
https://www.statineffects.com/info/adverse_effects.htm#Well known side effects
\"DOING THE MATH
The second crucial point is hiding in plain sight in Pfizer\'s own Lipitor newspaper ad. The dramatic 36% figure has an asterisk. Read the smaller type.
It says: \"That means in a large clinical study, 3% of patients taking a sugar pill or placebo had a heart attack compared to 2% of patients taking Lipitor.\"
From
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm
[go to the second page for this quote:]
\"Now do some simple math.
The numbers in that sentence 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.\"