The only question is how fast.
The above comes from an article in Forbes magazine and refers to a study done to determine whether lowering blood C- Reactive Proteins (CRP) ( blood factors which seem to be indicative of inflammation associated with of heart disease risks) can help prevent heart disease.
The study was published in the current issue of the New England Jour. Med. and seems to indicate that taking statin type drugs, i.e. Crestor, provides a 50% decrease in heart attack risk, 20% decrease of dying from any cause and some 46 % lower need of heart surgery.
These figures are impressive but one has to wonder why statins were picked to study the effects of drugs on heart disease via CRP … when there are other drugs available that can decrease CRPs without the interpretation pitfall of statins.
Lets take a look at the results:
1- The 50% decrease in heart/stroke - a different type of analysis indicates that it was really only some 0.8% reduction
2- While the number of deaths in the study group was lowered, the Crestor group decrease seems to be no better than the placebo
In interpreting this study, perhaps it may be significant to note that:
The study was headed by Dr. Paul Ridker, who helped develop the test for CRP and receives royalties from their sale and
The study was funded by AsteraZeneca, the seller of Crestor
The above is an explanation of how we read the results of the study. Perhaps some one can enlighten us
Dr. Peter Pantel, Ph.D.
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