October 2017 December 2013 | Page 9

Te Puawai highlighted their benefits in people with coronary artery disease, the reviewers found there is limited evidence to show that primary prevention with statins is cost effective or that they improve quality of life. They do however turn healthy people into patients. Totally biased drug trials The problem with the statin trials is that “there is often no blinding, no concealment of treatment allocation (which means that the randomisation could have been violated), poor follow-up and no intention-to-treat analysis (where the fate of all randomised patients is accounted for, also those who drop out). Funding from the test drug company rather than the comparator drug company was associated with more favourable results (odds ratio 20) and more favourable conclusions (odds ration 35). This is not surprising considering that head-to-head statin trials are not fairly designed, as the compared doses in most of the trials are not equivalent.” (2) Peter Gotzsche also points out in his book which the above quote is taken from, the drug industry’s many tricks make the impossible possible, and their duplicity knows no bounds, which is why he compares the industry with organised crime. This is important information for all those New Zealanders who are being encouraged by the current TV advertising campaign or by their GP to get a heart check. Overdiagnosis is not just a problem in America or in Europe, it is also happening at your local GP practice. So before you agree to go on a statin you need to ask your doctor for the evidence from an independent source that taking statins when you have no symptoms of heart disease will benefit you, or at the very least that it will not harm you. © Te Puawai Prescription drugs are, after all, the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. (2) References 1. Dr H Gilbert Welch, Dr Lisa Schwartz Dr Steven Woloshin “Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health.” Beacon Press 2011. 2. Peter Gotzsche “Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How big pharma has corrupted healthcare.” Radcliffe Publishing 2013. 3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2124 9663 Please remember to update your contact details if you have not done so this year. Email the College office– [email protected] College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) Inc 7