Cholesterol 3: The Big Mistake

Cholesterol 3: The Big Mistake

From Research Translation Podcast by David Newman

April 8, 2026 · 38 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the implications of the AHA's cholesterol guidelines and the effectiveness of statins in healthy individuals.

The AHA’s cholesterol guideline cites a large review of trials from 2012 as the principal evidence for treating cholesterol in healthy people. The following table is from that review, webfigure 9, in the supplement . It’s okay for your eyes to glaze over, I’ll summarize the important parts. People in statin trials were assessed for their 5-year risk of having a heart problem. The table, which shows deaths in statin and placebo groups, divides people by this risk. The first two rows are the lowest risk, at Note the ‘box-and-whisker’ in these first two rows. It crosses the solid vertical line. Meaning, no detectable difference in deaths between statin and placebo . The last column shows relative risks and confidence intervals that include 1. Confirmed: Statins and placebo were the same . We can therefore make the following statement, and it is undisputed: For people at . For higher risk people mortality benefits accrued over time to 2% or more. At the highest risk levels, therefore, about 1 in 50 people who took statins lived longer. Now check yourself. Plug in your numbers for ‘ASCVD’ risk on the AHA calculator website. If you are less than 20% (in 10 years) then the first two…

People in this episode

Host: David Newman

Topics covered

  • cholesterol
  • statins
  • heart health
  • mortality
  • risk assessment

Keywords

  • cholesterol
  • AHA guidelines
  • statin trials
  • heart problems
  • mortality benefits

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: AHA

Products: statins

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