The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology recently released guidelines that would see 18.6 million more people in the U.S. taking statins. Of those, two thirds are non-Caucasian and have less education or a lower income, while 16 percent do not have health insurance.
The researchers from Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital reached their conclusion after examining data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. It was the first study to look into the socioeconomic and racial backgrounds of those who are newly recommended to use statins.
According to their findings, African-Americans were four times more likely to fall under the new recommendations to take these drugs than Caucasians, while those whose education did not extend past high school were twice as likely to be recommended the drugs as those who finished college.
Statins are unhelpful, not to mention dangerous
While some people might think that putting more people on these medications is a good thing, nothing could be further from the truth. A recent study revealed that there is no evidence the drugs can improve a heart attack patient’s chances of surviving. In addition, they don’t work as a preventive measure, either. It’s also a curious recommendation when you consider the fact that studies show that statins are even less effective in African Americans than they are in Caucasians.
Taking ineffective drugs might not be a big deal if they didn’t cause side effects, but statins cause debilitating muscle pain in 40 percent of those who take them. They also raise older women’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes by a remarkable 50 percent. Moreover, patients falsely believe that taking them is enough to solve their problem and fail to make the necessary lifestyle changes that could truly help them. Researchers say that heart attack survivors over 65 who take statins are more likely to die than those who made changes to their diet instead.
What’s good about statins, then? Quite a lot, if you are their manufacturer; patients must take them on a daily basis for the rest of their lives, and they’re expensive. Doctors might prescribe them because they’ve been shown studies that make them seem less dangerous and more effective than they truly are, and some might be doing it because they’re collecting kickbacks for prescribing them.
Targeting lower-educated individuals and pushing these drugs on them is a clever way to expand their reach because these people are less likely to be aware of their dangers. It’s not just statins that are problematic for these groups; black communities are also targeted when it comes to administering vaccines that contain mercury, which is particularly unfortunate in light of the finding that African-Americans are far more susceptible to vaccine injury than other groups.
Indeed, poor Americans who rely on clinics that get public funds often receive the cheaper vaccines which contain the dangerous ingredient thimerosal. Black babies are an alarming 340 percent more likely to go on to develop autism after getting the MMR vaccine. It’s a very disturbing state of affairs, and it’s something that many people are unaware of because you won’t hear much about it in the mainstream media. Stay up-to-date on statins news at Statins.news.
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