The danger of pronouncements in medicine

“Experts” mean to improve health.  They have great intentions, but we all know what is paved with good intentions. This week I twice checked my blood pressure on a machine at our grocery store.  The first time my blood pressure with 134/82 and the machine told me I had an elevated blood pressure.  The second time it was 124/78 and it told me that my blood pressure was elevated. I was very pleased with my blood pressure, and astonished.  The machine justifies these interpretations because a group of “experts” wrote and published a guideline pronouncement that redefined almost everyone as either being hypertensive or at least elevated. That same group championed a flawed risk calculator that greatly overestimates my risk of coronary artery disease.  As soon as they release risk calculator (now touted for both statin use and hypertension treatment) Dr. Nissen wrote this opinion piece – Risk Calculator for Cholesterol Appears Flawed The latest Annals of Internal Medicine includes a very complex, careful alternative to that risk calculator – Clinical Implications of Revised Pooled Cohort Equations for Estimating Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk Results: The 2013 PCEs overestimated 10-year risk for atherosclerotic CVD by an average of 20% across risk groups. Misestimation of risk was particularly prominent among black adults, of whom 3.9 million (33% of eligible black persons) had extreme risk estimates (<70% or >250% those...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs