Oddbean new post about | logout
 Agree. These medications probably have little value. See a cohort study: Global Effect of Modifiable Risk Factors on Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality. The Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium*published in NEJM 10/2023 about cardiovascular risk factors. Notice the graphics in particular that compare risks of cardiac events and death with relation to BMI, BP, smoking, diabetes, and non-HDL cholesterol. Some signal for stroke and heart attack, but no difference in hazard ratios for death with non-HDL cholesterol risk factor. One might wonder that a stroke could be worse than death if you are debilitated after the stroke, of course. Diabetes is the strongest risk factor in this study, BY FAR. I have heard of the increased risk of diabetes with statin medications and am not sure if this is causation or association. I would sure hate to prescribe a statin if it increases risk for diabetes, as this sounds like a risky move. As a family physician, I lay out this controversy to actively involve the patient in the decision, but I do not strongly recommend lipid lowering medications due to the side effect profile and non-effectiveness in general.