Re: The benefits of statins in people without established cardiovascular disease but with cardiovascular risk factors: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Rapid response to:
Research
The benefits of statins in people without established cardiovascular disease but with cardiovascular risk factors: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Re: The benefits of statins in people without established cardiovascular disease but with cardiovascular risk factors: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Please report the number needed to treat (NNT) as well as the number needed to harm (NNH). If we look in the results section we can calculate the relevant NNT values. For “all cause mortality” NNT = 167 thus only one in 167 patients benefits from treatment based on “all cause mortality”.
The results also show that for a “major coronary event” NNT = 77 and for a “major cerebrovascular event” NNT = 250. Thus the NNT results are less than promising. The article makes one mention of side effects without reporting a single analysis, how is this balanced? How can a medical doctor, let alone a patient, evaluate the usefulness of statins without this information? Journals like the BMJ should require articles like these to report NNT, NNH, and absolute risk reduction (ARR).
Rapid Response:
Re: The benefits of statins in people without established cardiovascular disease but with cardiovascular risk factors: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Please report the number needed to treat (NNT) as well as the number needed to harm (NNH). If we look in the results section we can calculate the relevant NNT values. For “all cause mortality” NNT = 167 thus only one in 167 patients benefits from treatment based on “all cause mortality”.
The results also show that for a “major coronary event” NNT = 77 and for a “major cerebrovascular event” NNT = 250. Thus the NNT results are less than promising. The article makes one mention of side effects without reporting a single analysis, how is this balanced? How can a medical doctor, let alone a patient, evaluate the usefulness of statins without this information? Journals like the BMJ should require articles like these to report NNT, NNH, and absolute risk reduction (ARR).
Competing interests: No competing interests