WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU7 December 2006 No.316

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News content

 

 

· STATINS: Heart patients get them after op, but doctors

don't know why

· GOOGLE: It's the way doctors find out about your condition,

just like you

· DRUG PROTESTS: Patient groups campaign for their sponsors

· LASER SURGERY: It doesn't help improve vision as you get

older

· HEART DRUG: Back to the drawing board for Pfizer

· HOSPITAL BEDS: Hungary learns to cut back, the EU way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STATINS: Heart patients get them after op, but doctors don't know why

 

 

It's extraordinary just how frequently medicine works with myth

rather than fact. One example is the use of cholesterol-lowering

statin drugs, which have become one of medicine's holy grails for

patients with coronary heart disease.

 

Heart specialists are convinced that statins are a vital part of

patient care, especially after high-risk surgery.

 

Statins also reduce the risks of developing coronary heart disease

among patients at high risk, and the death rate among patients who

already have the condition, they believe.

 

But scratch the surface and you discover that this post-operative

medical practice, conducted in every heart unit in the West for

decades, is based on just 16 observational studies – which means

they're not even properly regulated trials – and on two small studies.

 

Researchers from the University of Alberta made the discovery when

they sifted through 2,373 references for statins. But these reduced

down to just the handful of observational studies that provided any

meaningful data.

 

The truth is, the researchers conclude, we just don't know if statins

are helping heart patients after surgery.

 

So what to do? Well, it might be an idea to test the theory once and

for all and discover if the statins are helping – or possibly

harming – the patient.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 1149-52).

 

· YOU CAN maintain a healthy heart without drugs, and the way

to do it is explained in the WDDTY handbook, Your Healthy Heart.

It's packed full of useful tips and ideas to keep your heart young

and well – and it could be just about the wisest investment you make

in 2006. To order your copy for delivery before Christmas, click

here.

 

 

 

 

 

GOOGLE: It's the way doctors find out about your condition, just

like you

 

 

What do you do when you want to find out more about a health

problem? Right. You go on Google, or a similar search engine, and

look through the results. Guess what doctors are doing when they

want to find out about your health problem? Right. They go on

Google, and look through the results.

 

A new study has found that the Web gives doctors an excellent and

helpful overview of some of the more difficult or obscure health

conditions. The study put Google through its paces on 26 different

cases, and discovered it came up with correct diagnoses in 15 – or 58

per cent – of them.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 1143-5).

 

· ANOTHER WAY of finding out about health and medicine is to

read our book `What Doctors Don't Tell You'. It's a 400-page

compendium of health that was updated just last year. No wonder

Channel 4's `You Are What You Eat' nutritionist Dr Gillian McKeith

described it as " the ultimate almanac in health " . If there's just

one thing you buy from us, it has to be this. We can deliver it in

time for Christmas, but you need to be quick. Click here to place

your order today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DRUG PROTESTS: Patient groups campaign for their sponsors

 

 

NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence), the much-

maligned body that determines which drugs should be available on the

UK's National Health Service, is finally fighting back.

 

Of late, it's been the whipping boy of drug companies and irate

patients who blame it for blocking `life-saving' drugs. Drug

companies have threatened to withdraw investment in the UK unless

NICE starts approving their drugs. And now several of them are

threatening to sue NICE over its recent decisions.

 

So NICE has finally decided to get a little nasty. It's been

pointing out that the manufacturers themselves fund many of the

patient groups that are campaigning for the drugs' admittance to the

NHS.

 

Sir Michael Rawlins, NICE's chairman, describes the relationship

as `distasteful'.

 

The Alzheimer's Society has led a patient revolt against NICE's

ruling to bar dementia drugs Aricept, Reminyl and Exelon from the

NHS. In the last year, the society received funding of £31,000 from

Pfizer, which makes Aricept, £13,000 from Shire Pharmaceuticals,

which makes Reminyl, and £14,000 from Novartis, which makes Exelon.

 

Similarly, patient group Cancerbackup, one of the chief campaigners

against NICE's ruling on breast cancer `wonder' drug Herceptin,

receives £29,000 funding from Roche, Herceptin's manufacturer.

 

(Source: Sunday Times, 3 December, 2006).

 

 

 

 

 

LASER SURGERY: It doesn't help improve vision as you get older

 

 

Laser eye surgery has become so commonplace that it's available on

almost every high street. But those who hope the procedure will

improve their vision if it's deteriorated with age will be

disappointed.

 

A new study reveals that laser treatment cannot reverse age-related

macular degeneration (AMD), a common problem that affects many over

the age of 50.

 

It was tested on 1,000 participants who were in the early stages of

AMD. Each participant had one eye treated by lasers, and the other

was untreated, yet vision loss was similar in both eyes after five

years.

 

(Source: Ophthalmology, 2006; 113: 1974-86).

 

· YOUR EYESIGHT needn't get worse as you get older. There's

plenty you can do in terms of supplements, diet and eye exercises

that can help you maintain sharp vision right into old age. It's all

explained in the WDDTY handbook, The Good Sight Guide, and it's

a `must read' for anyone worried about their eyesight. To order your

copy,

 

 

 

 

 

HEART DRUG: Back to the drawing board for Pfizer

 

 

Drug giant Pfizer is in a panic after its new generation heart drug –

designed to raise `good' HDL cholesterol – was blamed for the deaths

of 82 participants in a pre-licensing trial.

 

Pfizer is desperate to find a replacement for its statin drug

Lipitor, which is the world's best-selling drug with annual revenues

of around $10bn. The drug loses its patent protection in 2010, when

it becomes open season for other manufacturers to produce `me too'

generic copies.

 

As with all statins, Lipitor lowers the `bad' LDL cholesterol in the

blood – but Pfizer researchers reckoned they could reduce heart

deaths more dramatically if they instead raised the levels of HDL

cholesterol.

 

The new drug, called torcetrapib, was due to be licensed for approval

next year, and was undergoing $800m trials. Researchers running the

trial recommended an immediate halt following the deaths of 82

participants who were taking the new drug in combination with Lipitor.

 

It's thought that the participants may have died from raised blood

pressure, an effect that was reported early on, but one that Pfizer

chose to ignore.

 

Interestingly, 51 participants who were taking only Lipitor also

died. This may be as equally surprising to Pfizer as the torcetrapib

results. According to the drug company, Lipitor causes a little

bloating and gas. Many patients suffer many more serious side

effects, including muscle wasting, and according to the latest Pfizer

trial, death.

 

(Source: The Guardian, 5 December 2006).

 

 

 

 

 

HOSPITAL BEDS: Hungary learns to cut back, the EU way

 

 

The European Union is a wonderful thing. It endeavours to provide a

level playing field for all its member states, as Hungary has just

discovered.

 

Hungary is one of the newer members of the EU – it joined in 2004 –

and it has been told it must phase out 9,000 hospital beds in order

to be in line with the EU average.

 

Hungary currently supplies 780 hospital beds per 100,000 people

compared with the EU average of 640 per 100,000. This restructuring

will cost Hungary around £72m (US$140m).

 

Lajos Molnar, Hungary's health minister, describes his country's

health service as " excessively wasteful " .

 

Too right, make `em wait like they have to in the rest of Europe.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 1140).

 

 

 

 

 

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