Summary

Original source:
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hschol094462431oct09,0,4735763.story?coll=ny-health-headlines

Details

• Nancy Yost doesn't have a heart condition, but every day for the past eight years, she has dutifully taken Lipitor to rein in her LDL cholesterol, which can get as high as 340.
• She's a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that charges Lipitor manufacturer Pfizer aggressively promoted the drug to patients like herself - even though, the suit says, there is no proof statins prevent heart attacks in women and seniors who aren't already suffering from heart disease or diabetes.
• The lawsuit follows a wide-reaching campaign in recent years to raise awareness among women that they are at risk for heart disease, especially if they have diabetes, and that they need to watch their "bad" LDL cholesterol and blood pressure, lose weight, quit smoking, exercise and eat right.
• Pfizer has been one of the major sponsors of the American Heart Association's campaign, Go Red For Women.
• The class-action lawsuit doesn't seek to undermine the heart disease message, and it doesn't deny that Lipitor reduces LDL cholesterol in women.
• But the ultimate goal of statin therapy is to prevent heart attacks, strokes and deaths, and the lawsuit says clinical trials have not proven the drugs do that for women and seniors who are free of heart disease and diabetes.
• Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association and a specialist in women's heart disease, emphasized that patients need to be evaluated individually and not be treated unless necessary.
• In her own practice, Goldberg said, she adheres to guidelines developed by the National Cholesterol Education Program, which recommend cholesterol-lowering drugs for women and older people, even if they do not have a history of heart disease.
• The updated guidelines last year called for more aggressive use of statin drugs.

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