Dr. Aaron Hartman breaks down statin use for heart disease prevention in healthy adults: 35 million Americans take them, but the absolute benefit is just 1–2% risk reduction over five years. The tradeoff includes a 30–35% increased diabetes risk and muscle pain in up to 25% of users.
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We've talked a lot about medical gaslighting and medical blind spots, things that we can look in the rearview mirror and say, look what we did 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. But the question is this: are there things we're doing today that we'll look back on 10, 20 years in the future and say, can you believe we used to do that? This— these are controversial topics, controversial things. But I want to talk about one that, depending on where you're at, may or may not be controversial. And this is the use of cholesterol medications called statins. If you're 40 years old for primary prevention of heart disease, doctors currently use statin all the time solely for elevated cholesterol and asymptomatic healthy individuals. We put about 35 million Americans on these drugs over the last 20 to 30 years. What's the benefit? Statins will have an absolute reduction in heart disease, about 1 to 2%. The risk you get with that is muscle aches and pains, cognitive issues, a risk for diabetes, a whole host of things. The question is, is it worth it? Do our statins— is the pain worth it? Is the juice worth the squeeze? So let's talk about this $20 billion a year industry and talk about some data points. First, for primary prevention for heart attack, it's about a 1 to 2% risk over 5 years, meaning you have to treat about 100 people over 5 years to prevent 1 or 2 heart attacks. It's significant when you look at millions of people, but is it significant for a few people? You know, or for you. The second thing is statin risk is associated with increased risk for diabetes. If you're female, somewhere close to 48%. For male, 8%. Overall, about 30-35% increased risk for getting diabetes. Muscle aches and pains, about 10-25%. So the issue is there are some real risks for these medications. 1-2, 1-2 per, you know, 1-2% over your 5 years. The question is, is it is it worth it? And that's where you get into risk stratification, high risk, intermediate risk, or low risk. And you have to know your risk to know if it's worth it for you. The other question is, is the guidelines for statins were written by about 8 or 9 members that had financial ties to the industry. So again, questionable motives. The point is, is this is just one example of many in our current healthcare situation that may be questionable. Is the right thing happening? We don't quite know. But you need to have the right information. If you are taking a statin and have questions about it, I'd love to hear from you below. Click the link below, ask your question, share your story. Did you have a side effect from the medication? I'd love to know. I think people need to hear real people's stories to really grasp these statistics that it's actually more common than not. Take care. Talk to you soon.
