For low risk individuals with a high CRP taking crestor (rosuvastatin calcium), "we reduced the risk of a heart attack by 54 percent, the risk of a stroke by 48 percent and the chance of needing bypass surgery or angioplasty by 46 percent" reported Paul Ridker of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led a new study released yesterday at the annual American Academy of Cardiology meeting. It involved 17,802 people with high CRP and low LDL cholesterol (below 130) in the U.S. and 25 other countries.
One-fourth were black or Hispanic, and 40 percent were women. Men were 50 or older; women, 60 or older. There was no past medical history of heart problems or diabetes.
They were randomly assigned to take a placebo (dummy pills) or Crestor, made by British-based AstraZeneca PLC.
The results were significant enough that the trial was halted early, only after 2 years because the evidence was strong enough to consider placing all participants on crestor.
If insurance companies decide to cover the expense, and it is adopted by those who qualify, it could cost many billions of dollars to cover the expense but possibly avert 30,000 heart attacks.
Before you run out to ask your physician for the CRP test, consider if you're willing to foot the cost of crestor or other statins yourself because at this time you'll be paying $1-$4 a pill, every day. A cost that's pretty difficult to swallow in these economic times.
Crestor:
http://www.medhelp.org/drugs/Crestor/show/3468
Lipitor:
http://www.medhelp.org/drugs/Lipitor/show/3078
Thousands of articles on the research:
http://news.google.com/news?client=safari&rls=en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&resnum=1&ncl=1268542933
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