Health Buzz: Cholesterol Drug Crestor's Coup and Other Health News
Statin Crestor Found to Protect Heart in People With Inflammation and Normal Cholesterol
Half of all heart attack victims have perfectly normal cholesterol levels, and many have no risk factors at all. Experts have recently come to believe that one hidden culprit is chronic inflammation, which turns arteries into plaque magnets. But they haven't known whether treating inflammation could actually protect the heart. A new landmark finding suggesting that is the case could affect millions of seemingly healthy people, Deborah Kotz reports.
If confirmed in further studies, the research, published in the current New England Journal of Medicine, could transform screening for heart disease. Nearly 18,000 people with normal cholesterol levels and no heart disease but high levels of inflammation (as measured by a marker called C-reactive protein) were randomly assigned to take either the cholesterol-lowering statin known as Crestor, which has anti-inflammatory effects, or a placebo. Over two to five years of treatment, the people taking a statin had about a 50 percent lower risk of heart attack or stroke and a 20 percent lower risk of dying of any cause compared with those who took placebos. They also had a 46 percent lower rate of bypass surgeries and angioplasties.
Crestor isn't the only drug that may fight inflammation. In October, Sarah Baldauf listed 12 things you should know about aspirin, which is one of the cheapest anti-inflammatory drugs available.
Change Is Coming for Asthma Rescue Inhalers
After December 31, asthmatics will no longer be able to purchase albuterol or levalbuterol rescue inhalers that use chlorofluorocarbon propellants since the inhalers are being phased out because of concern about their effect on Earth's ozone layer. Starting January 1, manufacturers of these inhalers may sell only devices that use hydrofluoroalkane, or HFA, propellants, which are considered to be more environmentally friendly, HealthDay reports. Asthmatics should be aware that the new inhalers may feel different when used than CFC inhalers do, and they may be more expensive.
Marianne Lavelle reported last year in U.S. News on how the inhaler rule is hitting asthma patients in the pocketbook. In October, U.S. News suggested taking photos of your home to document potential asthma and allergy triggers and provided a second look at a type of asthma medication.
How Green Is Your Fitness Routine?
Runner's World recently ran a package on the not-insignificant environmental impact of running. The eye-opening feature tracks the manufacture and transport of just one pair of running shoes. Still, it's better to exercise than to sit on the sofa, depressed about the ecological impact of going for a run, writes Katherine Hobson. Pretty much everything we do has some negative environmental consequences. Earlier this year, researchers suggested that the obese actually contribute more to global warming and food scarcity than do the thin. Runner's World offers tips on how to be a greener runner, many of which are applicable to other sports and activities, too.
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Reader Comments
Not to mention that the study was funded by the maker of the drug, AstraZeneca, and the lead author, Paul M Ridker MD, is listed as a co-inventor on patents held by Brigham and Women's Hospital related to the use of HS-CRP for the evaluation of a patient’s risk of heart disease. The cost of Crestor (rosuvastatin) is about $3.45 per day—much higher than that of generic statins. That amounts to $1259 a year just for this drug. Doing the math, this means to prevent one event in one “apparently healthy patient” would cost about $300,000 just for the Crestor. These figures do not include the cost of doctors’ visits, the lab tests and the treatment of side effects from the medications, including the serious adverse events caused by Crestor.(Calculations: Absolute benefit of 1 event for 120 treated patients for 1.9 years at $1259 = 120 x 1.9 x $1259 = $287,052.)
Crestor
Thanks, but no thanks. I was on Crestor for 6 months. "Muscle pain and weakness" indeed.
Since adding fish oil, my CRP, Triglycerides, and blood pressure have all dropped. Nice try on the study you funded and probably wrote. Shame on you and any doctor who puts their patients on this stuff.
wrong target
This fascinating study conceals far more than it reveals. What the results actually suggest is that cholesterol levels are not the issue at all, but - as many of us have long suspected -endothelial dysfunction (chronic, sub-clinical arteritis) as the critical factor that drives both atheroma formation and essential hypertension. The reason why so many suffer from these conditions is almost certaainly due to an excess of pro- over anti-inflammatory factors in our blood streams; and that balance reflects primarily dietary and smoking habits. The way to resolve this is not to uncritically swallow Crestor and the recommendations of the drug industry representatives, medical and otherwise, who sell it; but to stop smoking, eat more fruits and vegetables, and consume more flavonoids. This was very clearly shown by studies such as HALE, and by papers by Clayton & Rowbotham in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Crestor (and other drugs) merely suppress symptoms, and carry a significant risk of adverse effects; beneficial lifestyle changes are cheaper, safer and self-empowering.
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