JAMA Exclusive Addresses “Statinization”.

Posted on | December 2, 2013 | Comments Off on JAMA Exclusive Addresses “Statinization”.

JAMA Early Release:

More Than a Billion People Taking Statins?
Potential Implications of the New Cardiovascular Guidelines

John P. A. Ioannidis, MD, DSc1,2

Published online December 02, 2013. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.284657

“The ACC and the AHA are among the most experienced organizations in medicine that develop guidelines. Their processes are meticulous, including transparent reporting of conflicts. The work behind the guidelines’ development was monumental. References to randomized trials and systematic reviews were continuous (the word “evidence” appears 346 times in the cardiovascular risk assessment report and 522 times in the treatment report alone). Panelists were highly qualified. Statins have been extensively evaluated in numerous randomized clinical trials. The guidelines focused on hard clinical outcomes such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Remaining caveats were explicitly acknowledged in documents covering hundreds of pages. However, this apparently seasoned integration of data and opinion eventually would lead to massive use of statins at the population level; ie, “statinization.” It is uncertain whether this would be one of the greatest achievements or one of the worst disasters of medical history.”

FULL ARTICLE