Risk vs. Benefit of Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs
by John L. Wilson, Jr., M.D. The German drug company Bayer AG withdrew its cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol from the market in August, 2001 after it was linked to 31 (now 52 and counting) deaths. An estimated 700,000 people in America were taking Baycol. Many more whose doctors prescribed other closely related drugs in […]
Risk of Clot Formation Can be Measured
by Eileen M. Wright, M.D. The ability to form a clot can be life saving, such as after an injury when a person might otherwise bleed to death. Several problems can happen, however, with the complex sequence of events that contribute to clot formation that leave a person at risk for unwanted clots. […]
Assessing The Risk of Heart Disease
By John L. Wilson, M.D. According to the American Heart Association, more than 2,600 Americans died of Cardiovascular (Heart) Disease each day in 1998. That is one death every 33 seconds. Considering that Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) has been the leading cause of death in the US since 1900 (except in 1918 when more […]
