If doctors blindly follow the apparent results of a recent drug company sponsored trial, as they so often do, 11 million more older Americans might be prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin medications.
The JUPITER trial found that treatment with Crestor might reduce heart attack and stroke among those with elevated levels of an inflammatory marker called C-reactive protein.
Of course, drug company sponsored trials are generally, and unsurprisingly, biased in favor of the drugs they examine. As a result, the population of people who “should” be put on statins has been continually redefined to a greater and greater number. I wouldn’t be surprised is some day a drug company announces a trial purporting to show that every human being on earth should be put on these dangerous drugs.