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February 2015 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
Some Doctors
Question If Statins
Are Worth the Risks
By Angela S. Hoover, Staff Writer
Cholesterol-lowering drugs called
statins, are one of the most commonly prescribed medications in
the United States, taken by an estimated 1 in 4 middle-aged adults. New
cholesterol guidelines introduced
in November 2013 could push the
numbers to 1 in 2 adults over the
age of 40, per an analysis in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
“The prevailing dogma has been
that statins are almost harmless and
that they’re wonderful drugs,” says
Tom Perry, MD, a pharmacologist
and internist in Vancouver, Canada.
Perry is part of a team of doctors at
the University of British Columbia
that looks ] H]