Statins increase the risk of prostate cancer by 55%

This study was published in Prostate 2011 Dec;71(16):1818-24

Study title and authors:
Statins increase the risk of prostate cancer: a population-based case-control study.

Chang CC, Ho SC, Chiu HF, Yang CY.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21480313

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of statins was associated with prostate cancer risk. The study included 388 prostate cancer cases and 1,552 controls. All patients were aged 50 years and older.

The study found that use of statins was associated with a 55% increase in prostate cancer risk.

See here to view an article by Dr Duane Graveline that explains how statins increase the risk of cancer.

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Response to the "everyone over 50 should be on a statin story"

I have been alerted by a few people to a story emanating from the UK that everyone over the age of fifty should be prescribed statin drugs to prevent "thousands of heart attacks and strokes".

The story is about an analysis of some statin trials that apparently showed that as cholesterol levels were lowered then heart disease and stroke levels were decreased. The thrust of the argument by one of the researchers, professor Colin Baigent, is that whatever your cholesterol level, reducing it further is beneficial.  

As anyone who reads this blog will realise, lower cholesterol levels are NOT beneficial to health.

However for arguments sake lets pretend that statin trials are not paid for by the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the statins.

Lets pretend that many of the statin trials are not conducted by personnel that have financial ties with the companies that manufacture the statins.

Lets pretend that the trials are not designed in such a way as to seriously skew the results to show statins in a favourable light.

Lets pretend that the researchers don't just accentuate the very minor positive aspects of statin drugs in the summaries of the trials, whilst completely ignoring the vast deleterious side-effects they cause.

After all that "lets pretending", lets examine figures from the British Heart Foundation statistics database and the World Health Organisation Global Health Atlas 2005.

In both graphs data was extracted from 86 countries.

Figure 1 shows that life expectancy increases quite sharply as cholesterol levels increase, and even the data regarding cardiovascular diseases in figure 2 shows that as cholesterol levels increase, then death rates from cardiovascular diseases decrease.

Lets stop pretending.

The hard data shows the opposite of what the pharmaceutical industry backed advisers tell us.

I suggest that as well as listening to advice about data gathered from "drug company industry paid for, drug company industry personnel conducted, drug company industry designed and drug company industry biased results" trials, people should conduct their own research and come to their own conclusions.

Who would you listen to and trust?

Professor Colin Baigent heads a university department which received funding from Merck Sharpe & Dohme Ltd; who just happen to be the pharmaceutical company linked to the parent company (Merck & Co) in the USA who first brought Lovastatin to market.

Would you trust someone who trots out figures that are backed by the $29 billion statin industry, or someone who just shows unbiased data of actual life expectancies, actual cardiovascular death rates and actual cholesterol levels?

If you would like another opinion of Baigent's study go to Dr Briffa's site here.

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Higher fat diets are better than lower fat diets in the treatment of diabetes

This study was published in Diabetes Care 1994 Mar;17(3):177-82

Study title and authors:

The high-monounsaturated fat diet as a practical alternative for NIDDM.

Campbell LV, Marmot PE, Dyer JA, Borkman M, Storlien LH.

Diabetes Centre, St. Vincent's Hospital, Camperdown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8174444

The objective of the study was to examine the effects in patients with type two diabetes of a home-prepared high-fat diet compared with a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. Ten men were included in the trial in which they consumed each diet for two weeks.

The composition of the diets was:
(i) 52% carbohydrate, 24% protein, 24% fat (low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet).
(ii) 40% carbohydrate, 22% protein, 38% fat (high-fat diet).

The study found:
(a) The high-fat diet lowered unhealthy high triglycerides levels.
(b) The high-fat diet lowered unhealthy high blood glucose levels.

This study shows that a high fat diet is better than a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet in the treatment of diabetes.

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Cardiovascular drugs increase the risk of suicide

This study was published in the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2007 Jun;63(6):591-6

Study title and authors:

Cardiovascular drugs and the risk of suicide: a nested case-control study.

Callréus T, Agerskov Andersen U, Hallas J, Andersen M.

Institute of Public Health, Research Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Southern Denmark, J.B. Winsloews Vej 9A, 5000, Odense C, Denmark. tcallreus@health.sdu.dk

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17468865

This study investigated the possible association between the use of cardiovascular drugs and suicide. 743 cases of suicide were matched with 14,860 age- and sex-matched controls and their previous cardiovascular drug use was compared.

The study found:
(a) Taking angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACE-inhibitors) increased the risk of suicide by 11%.
(b) Taking statins increased the risk of suicide by 21%.
(c) Taking angiotensin-receptor antagonists increased the risk of suicide by 252%.

This study reveals that cardiovascular drugs increase the risk of suicide.

Links to other studies:
ACE inhibitors and ARBs linked to serious birth defects
Antipsychotic drugs are a risk factor for pneumonia in frail older people

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Statins and fibrates are associated with an increased risk of peripheral neuropathy

This study was published at the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2004 Dec;58(12):1047-51

Study title and authors:
Lipid lowering drugs prescription and the risk of peripheral neuropathy: an exploratory case-control study using automated databases.

Corrao G, Zambon A, Bertù L, Botteri E, Leoni O, Contiero P.
Dipartimento di Statistica, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi 8, Edificio U7, 20126 Milan, Italy. giovanni.corrao@unimib.it

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15547071

Peripheral neuropathy describes damage to the peripheral nervous system, the vast communications network that transmits information from the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system) to every other part of the body.

Symptoms are related to the type of affected nerve and may be seen over a period of days, weeks, or years. Muscle weakness is the most common symptom of motor nerve damage. Other symptoms may include painful cramps and fasciculations (uncontrolled muscle twitching visible under the skin), muscle loss, bone degeneration, and changes in the skin, hair, and nails. These more general degenerative changes also can result from sensory or autonomic nerve fiber loss.

This study explored the association between prescription of cholesterol lowering drugs and the risk of peripheral neuropathy. 2,040 patients with peripheral neuropathy and 36,041 controls were included in the study.

The study found:
(a) Those that took statins had a 19% increased risk of peripheral neuropathy.
(b) Those that took fibrates had a 49% increased risk of peripheral neuropathy.
(c) Those that had higher doses of statins and fibrates had a higher risk of peripheral neuropathy.

This study shows that both statins and fibrates are associated with an increased risk of peripheral neuropathy.

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Low cholesterol levels are associated with lung disease

This study was published in Circulation 2003 Mar 25;107(11):1514-9

Study title and authors:

Why are patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases? The potential role of systemic inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Sin DD, Man SF.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12654609

This study analysed the association of cholesterol levels with the severity of airflow obstruction in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease. The study included 6,629 people aged 50 or over.

Sin notes that air flow obstructions elevate the risk of ischemic heart diseases, strokes, and sudden cardiac deaths 2- to 3-fold.

The study found:
(a) People with no air flow obstruction had the highest cholesterol.
(b) People with the most severe air flow obstruction had the lowest cholesterol.

The results of the study show that low cholesterol is associated with a higher severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which leads to a  2- to 3-fold increased risk of ischemic heart disease, stroke, and sudden cardiac death.

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Higher cholesterol levels associated with lower death rates

This study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine 1992 Jul;152(7):1490-500

Study title and authors:

Serum cholesterol level and mortality findings for men screened in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group.

Neaton JD, Blackburn H, Jacobs D, Kuller L, Lee DJ, Sherwin R, Shih J, Stamler J, Wentworth D.

Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55414.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1627030

The study investigated the relationship between cholesterol levels and death rates. The study included 350,977 men aged 35 to 57 who were followed for 12 years.

The study found those men who had cholesterol levels between 200-239 mg/dL (5.1-6.2 mmol/L) had a 12% lower death rate than those men with cholesterol levels below 160 mg/dL (4.1 mmol/L).

Links to other studies:
Declining cholesterol rates in people over 65 are associated with a 630% increase in death rates
Low cholesterol leads to 80% higher death rates from nonvascular causes
Low cholesterol and increased mortality in men and women

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