Looking at the benefit of statins from a different perspective.

摘要

to the editor: In this "Tips from Other Journals," Dr. Crawford-Faucher reviewed the meta-analysis by Brugts and colleagues that concluded that statins are beneficial for primary prevention of cardiac disease. I agree with this conclusion, but with some reservations. The review stated that the relative risk reduction for all-cause mortality was 12 percent, which sounds very good; however, I think it is important to look at the absolute risk reduction. All-cause mortality after a mean follow-up of 4.1 years was 5.1 percent in the group treated with statins and 5.7 percent in the control group. That translates into an absolute risk reduction of 0.6 percent and a number needed to treat (NNT) of 167. This means that 167 patients would need to be treated with a statin for 4.1 years to prevent one death. Additionally, based on the study data, the NNT to prevent one major coronary event is 77, and the NNT to prevent one major cerebrovascular event is 250.