In This Issue:

- Who Takes Statins and Why

- Evidence Tells the Truth

- The Risk Calculator

- Statin Side Effects

- What Should You Do?

- Excerpt from Introduction:

Spotlight on Statins: The Controversy Over New Drug Guidelines:

Last month, in an effort to lower the rate of heart attacks and strokes in the U.S., the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) revised the guidelines for prescribing statins, drugs that impair the body's ability to create cholesterol.

The revision focused on preventing a cardiac event among people who have never had one. The panel that composed the guidelines moved away from trying to reach a certain level of blood cholesterol and toward lowering one's overall risk of heart disease and stroke. Defined by risk factors established by the panel, moving the goal froma number to a behavior includes substantially increasing how many people would take statins...