Coalition Says 2nd Look at Statin Use Needed
From Times Wire Reports
A consumer group and 35 doctors and scientists asked the National Institutes of Health to oversee an independent review of the science that led to new guidelines urging wider use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the doctors and scientists said in a letter to NIH that there wasn’t enough evidence to justify the recommendations, especially for women, older people and diabetics.
The guidelines were issued in July by a panel convened by the American Heart Assn., the American College of Cardiology and the government. About 36 million Americans now are prescribed statins.
