Effective AND Safe? Do Statins really qualify?

I often get pushback from people who tell me "Statins ARE Effective and Safe." The problem is, this is an absolute statement to a question with a lot of variables. In some circumstances, perhaps they are safe and effective. In others, they certainly aren't. In addition, there is an element of value judgment in these statements. As an example, if how do we trade-off between people helped and people harmed? How effective is "good enough"?

In this video, I review some independently derived Numbers Needed to Treat (NNT) and Numbers Needed to Harm (NNH) for four patient populations.

References:
The NNT home page:
TheNNT.com

The NNT Rating System:

Statins in persons at Low Risk of CVD:

Statin Drugs Given for 5 Years for Heart Disease Prevention (Without Known Heart Disease):

Statins Given for 5 Years for Heart Disease Prevention (With Known Heart Disease):

Statins for Acute Coronary Syndrome:

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DISCLAIMER: The following presentation and all presentations on this channel are for informational purposes only and should not be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition. Please consult with your personal physician when deciding whether to treat or not treat any condition with pharmaceuticals or by any other treatment or therapy. In particular, never change dosage, stop taking medications, or change a therapy because of something presented in this series without discussing your options with your primary care physician or other health professional.

The author is not a medical professional and is presenting his own story, research, and opinions as they apply to himself, and himself alone.

If you think you may be experiencing a medical emergency, immediately call your doctor or dial 911.
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[stavross]

My parents are statin victims. My mother developed diabetes and cognitive decline. Once i stopped their statins her diabetes reversed completely and her cognitive decline partly reversed. My father lost all his muscle strength. Our cardiologist thinks we are lab rats. My parents had no heart risk factors. These side effects were never reported to anyone.

[mauricehains]

No heart disease, but borderline high cholesterol. I was given Rosuvastatin and had problems come up: Urination, severe tiredness, and muscle pain on the full right side. I took myself off, and conditions improved. I was then given a lower dose of Pravastatin. I developed issues within 2 months and halved my dosage. Within 6 months, chest pains and breathing issues while doing things like mowing the lawn occurred. Urination and prostate problems became a big issue. My triglycerides and glucose increased to borderline levels. My cholesterol creeped higher. Pain and numbness occurred in my toes. The numbness went above my ankles. I took myself off the Pravastatin, and issues improved within 2 weeks. I wrote a detailed timeline to my cardiologist, who said that "I may have had a reaction with statins." The remaining problem is neuropathy. It has gone from a level of 8 to a 4 on a scale of 10. I am trying alternative methods for both the neuropathy and the cholesterol level. I am not diabetic.

[leonfuerst]

Great video Russ. Thanks. Why are the doctors only look at High LDL numbers? They should also look at the size of the LDL and look at the heart with a CAC score before they prescribe a Statin.

[Straycurrent]

Russ, thank you very much for this presentation. I have wrestled with these concepts for a considerable time, and this has helped my understanding. I'm sure the vast majority of patients are not aware of these considerations. But an individual cannot truly make an informed decision without considering them.

[richardjennison]

Great video as ever, really informative and helpful, continuing thanks for these.

[SETDSP]

What an excellent video, Russ! Love how you manage the explanation of the numbers...I'm looking forward to your LMHR video!

[RonMac]

I've seen talks where the improvements might not come from the lowering of LDL but from the anti-inflammatory and blood-thinning effects of statins. I was on statins for a while, (I was at low risk for heart issues), my LDL was 101 and my doctor said it should never go over 100. I felt horrible on them, all sorts of muscle pain and problems. My A1C went from 5.1 to 5.9. I stopped taking them and felt much better and A1C went down. The adverse effects happened so gradually that it took a while to connect the statins to my problems.

[dacisky]

I'm a lean mass hyper responder.The more weight I loose, the higher my ldl goes. Can you address this?