Breaking News! Statins are safe again!

Up to recently, a majority of studies had  shown no obvious gain  in administering statins to patients who had not experienced a previous cardiac event or were at an elevated risk of cardiac pathology.  These studies had not been widely publicised by the pharmaceutical industry for obvious reasons. 

A preview of the results of a meta-analysis of 27 large studies (175,000 subjects in total) to be published in the Lancet in late 2013 suggests otherwise. According to authors quoted from the University of Oxford, anyone over the age of 50 would benefit from statin therapy. The authors insist that the extra cost of therapy would be outweighed by the savings made by a reduction in cardiac events and subsequent hospitalisation and rehabilitation costs.

The link to the full article is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18091708

Why I refuse to lie down and shut up!

Why I refuse to lie down and shut up!

It is easy enough to go along with the rest of the world and accept what is the present state of affairs as the norm. This is all well and good if one's conscience is at peace and the majority of society is well served. In this case, however, both the former and the latter are not satisfied.

I argue that the formulators of public policy are not being given the right amount of information and professional direction to enable decisions to be taken in their best interest. I argue that public health would be better served if those taking macro health decisions placed the well-being of Maltese citizens ahead of personal, political or corporate gain. I argue that the time has come to take a stand and put forward the case for wholesale reform of the manner in which we apply ourselves to healthcare and its delivery.

I will not rest my case.


John