Should women be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease?
Should women be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease?
Survey: Should women be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease?
Women in western countries are more likely to die from heart disease than from cancer. Scott M Grundy argues that the risks make preventive treatment essential, but Malcolm Kendrick believes that the evidence of benefit is not strong enough.
In the week after publication of these articles, we conducted an online poll, asking whether women should be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease.
The final result, with 184 respondents, was:
|
Yes |
19% |
|
No |
81% |
Why people voted the way they did:
“Because there is no proof that cholesterol is the cause of cardiovascular disease. So why give them such toxic drugs when no one really knows what the cause is? It makes no sense.”
“Statins are (of little) benefit only in secondary prevention in middle age men.”
“There is no evidence that they extend life expectancy in women.”
Who were our respondents (top five categories)?
|
Medically qualified doctors |
50% |
|
Other healthcare professional or student |
10% |
|
Academic researcher |
9% |
|
Patient or patient support group |
8% |
|
Member of the public |
6% |
Which countries were our respondents from (top five)?
|
United States |
17% |
|
United Kingdom |
16% |
|
Sweden |
14% |
|
Italy |
7% |
|
Netherlands |
7% |
What's new
Online poll
Services
Print issues
