Originally published November 13 2010
Statins prove useless, ineffective in children with lupus
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) The push to expand the market for statin drugs has hit a major roadblock. A recent study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology has revealed that the "preventive" administration of statin drugs does nothing to prevent children with lupus from developing atherosclerosis, a buildup of fatty material in arteries that leads to heart attack and stroke.
It is assumed by many in mainstream medicine that statin drugs are the cure-all for preventing heart disease, with some having even gone so far as to suggest that the cholesterol-lowering drugs be handed out for free with fast food meals (http://www.naturalnews.com/029590_statin_dru...). But the new study out of Duke University Medical Center verifies that giving them to kids with lupus provides no benefit.
"We thought every child with lupus should routinely be put on statins," said Laura Schanberg, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at Duke. "This study proves that's not the case."
For the study, researchers evaluated 221 participants with pediatric lupus over the course of three years, giving one portion of the group atorvastatin (Lipitor) and the other a placebo. The team used ultrasound imaging to monitor the progression of arterial wall thickening, inflammation, blood lipid levels, and lupus disease status, and found that statins did not work as intended to prevent the onset of heart disease.
"There are rare long-term risks associated with statins that outweigh the risks of using them routinely without proof of clinically significant benefit," Schanberg went on to say. "[W]e showed that statins should not be routinely prescribed to children with lupus."
To learn more about the dangers and side effects of statin drugs, visit:
http://www.naturalnews.com/statin_drugs.html
Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-...
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