Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • Debbie Young
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • The Swiss Way
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • Dick Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool
  • Anti-Gun Control
  • Anti-Digital Currency
  • World Gold Mine Production

Your Odds with Statins: 500 to 1?

March 9, 2018 By Richard C. Young

FDA photo by Michael J. Ermarth

Originally posted October 5, 2011.

If you are considering a drug such as a statin, do you and your family know about the “number needed to treat” (NNT)? I’ve been looking into NNT and found a Businessweek article from January 17, 2008 that explains the concept well. Basically, NNT is the number of patients who must be given a specific drug (by example, Lipitor) for a single person to benefit. The article provides a handy table that you’ll want to look at before you consider taking any prescription drug, not just Lipitor.
The NNT table indicates that for a single person who has already had a heart attack or has signs of heart disease to benefit from Lipitor, 16 to 23 patients have to be treated with the drug. Presumably the other 15 to 22 patients receive no benefit. The NNT for a patient taking Lipitor who does not yet have heart disease, but has a risk factor like high blood pressure, is 500 to 1. Sound like good odds to you?

Beyond such uncompelling odds, the associated risk factors that come with testing for heart disease—never mind the risk of staph infection on any visit to a hospital—are unattractive. Drug-resistant staph infection is no joke. If I were considering Lipitor, I would consider the potential benefits it offers that would be worth the wide array of risks. Is the treatment likely to extend my life? If so, by how much? I would want to see hard data from all recently available trials. Is lower cholesterol the target benefit? Were I a woman or an elderly male, I would comb the abundant literature that casts doubt on the value of lower cholesterol for these groups.

The more you study, the more questions you’ll want to ask. I have found that those with serious health issues almost always benefit from the assistance of an advocate who asks the hard questions and performs the most rigorous and demanding research. It is often difficult for a troubled person to proceed alone.

I suspect you’ll agree that NNT is compelling subject matter, certainly as it relates to the sticky wicket of statin drugs. Coming installments of Lifesaver will present another chapter in the quest for answers on the statin drug front. In the interim, remember that my goal here is to encourage thoughtful independent research and a rigorous approach to getting the answers you need to better your family’s quality of life—just the approach I use myself.

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for my free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • The Fortunate 500
  • S&P 500: Top 10 Stocks
  • Stocks Up 500 Points
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Richard C. Young
Richard C. Young
Richard C. Young is the editor of Young's World Money Forecast, and a contributing editor to both Richardcyoung.com and Youngresearch.com.
Richard C. Young
Latest posts by Richard C. Young (see all)
  • CBDCs Not “Just Another Form of Money” - June 6, 2023
  • Concentrate on Dividend Record and Compounding - June 6, 2023
  • Progressive Liberalism Has Dragged America near Ruination - June 6, 2023

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Is Rutin Useful in Preventing Blood Clots?
  • Making America Great Again Is What America Wants
  • Your Survival Guy’s 2022 Super States: #1 New Hampshire
  • Remembering Brent Scowcroft
  • 751 “No-Go” Zones in France
  • The Fed – “Independent” and “Non Political” – Joins The Resistance
  • The Common Ground of Democracy is Sinking Beneath Americans’ Feet
  • Protection While Traveling in France
  • The Butterfly Effect and Chaotic Markets
  • YOU DESERVE FREEDOM: Your Hard Work Will Make It Happen

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Successful Investing Is a Mindset
  • My Nephew Graduates, and I’m Larry the Cable Guy
  • Does the Government Have a Plan to “Sneak Through” CBDCs?
  • OPEC+: Saudi Arabia To Cut 1M Barrels of Oil Production
  • California Is Driving These Wealthy Businesses Out of the State
  • What’s Hiding In the London Metals Exchange Warehouses?
  • Is the World Ready for “Mixed Reality?”
  • Does AI Need More Time to Cook?
  • Rome, Paris, U.S.A.: Global Crisis in Confidence
  • June Is Retirement Compounders Month

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • Your Survival Guy’s Take on ChatGPT and AI
  • My Nephew Graduates, and I’m Larry the Cable Guy
  • California Is Driving These Wealthy Businesses Out of the State
  • Rome, Paris, U.S.A.: Global Crisis in Confidence
  • Your Survival Guy’s Best Insider’s Guide to Rome
  • What Is a Fiduciary Duty? Are You Working with a Fiduciary?
  • Survive and Thrive June 2023: Your Survival Guy in Rome 30-Years A.B. (After Babson)
  • Birth Rates in France Worst Since Post-WWII Era
  • Your Survival Guy Felt Like a U.N. Worker in Rome
  • Social Security: Declining Italy Needs a Bambino Boom

Is This the Summer of the Tick Fest

Your Survival Guy’s Take on ChatGPT and AI

CBDCs Not “Just Another Form of Money”

Concentrate on Dividend Record and Compounding

ALLIGATOR MARKET: Calm Surface Hides Danger Below

The Sham Claims of Lab-Grown “Meat”

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives