Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11629

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Kauffman JM.
Misleading Recent Papers on Statin Drugs in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals
Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Spring 2007; 12:(1):7-9
http://www.jpands.org/vol12no1/kauffman.pdf

Abstract:

Three papers on clinical trials with statin drugs, published in 2004–2006, imply that the observed improvement in selected trial endpoints result from gross reductions in serum total cholesterol (TC)
and cholesterol carried by low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), despite evidence to the contrary, which was not cited in these papers.

The ASTEROID trial that showed atherosclerotic plaque reduction by rosuvastatin neglected to discuss the decrease in lumen size. TheAto Z trial that promoted the use of higher doses of
simvastatin rather than much lower doses arbitrarily eliminated subjects with both “high or low” LDL-C levels, favoring the higher dose. A retrospective study of statin-using compared with nonstatin- using U.S. veterans, which was said to show longer lifespan in statin users, had non-equivalent treatment and control groups, favoring statin use.

Newspaper or television interviews with principal trial investigators contained statements that were far more positive than warranted by the trial results reported.