By The Numbers? Flawed Cholesterol Calculator May Boost Statins

The latest by-the-numbers approach for assessing cholesterol and cardiovascular risk apparently does not add up. The new online calculator that the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association last week recommended for determining treatment apparently overestimates the risks and, as a result, may mistakenly suggest that millions of people should be taking statins. The problems were actually noticed a year ago by a pair of Harvard Medical School professors, when the National Institute of Health circulated the proposed guidelines, according to The New York Times. However, their findings apparently were never distributed to the AHA and ACC committee that was creating the new guidelines.   “Miscalibration to this extent should be reconciled and addressed before these new prediction models are widely implemented,” Paul Ridker and Nancy Cook of Harvard write in a commentary that is scheduled to appear in The Lancet this week, according to the Times. “If real, such systematic overestimation of risk will lead to considerable overprescription.” The disclosure is a huge embarrassment to the organizations and reportedly caused havoc at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, which got under way this weekend in Dallas. An emergency session was held and a statement issued saying the calculator represented a major step forward, but acknowledged a flaw and emphasized calculators should not be taken as the gospel, the paper adds (here is the new calcul...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs