The Netherlands Radar TV Survey of Statin Side Effects


50,000 people were invited by e-mail to take part in an online survey by Radar Television in the Netherlands.
27,692 replied. Of these, 4738 (17.1%) were on Statins. Of the 4738, 27.1% reported side effects.

They had a choice of: muscle pain, joint pain, digestion problems, loss of memory or other.
748 (39.8%) reported muscle pain
592 (31.5%) reported joint pain
301 (16.0%) reported digestion problems
239 (12.7%) reported loss of memory
420 reported other effects.

This is actually a total of 2,300 reported side-effects. The percentages are for the first four questions where 1430 people reported 1880 side-effects, so a number of people had more than one side effect, a very common finding from a class of drug affecting so many different body systems.

To me this is perhaps as close as we have ever come to the true incidence of statin drugs side effects and it is very alarming. We know the usual breakdown of side effects - 40% cognitive, 40% muscle and 20 % all the rest but this is the first survey as to incidence that I feel I can believe.

All the other published reports of "negligible" side effects when thousands of people are placed on heavy doses of statin drugs is simply not believable when Pfizer's own data 12 years ago allowed us to project 5 cases of serious cognitive dysfunction for every 1,000 Lipitor users.

So, if you put 5,000 people on a statin you are going to get 25 cases of severe cognitive loss, say nothing of all your other problems. This is not my data, it is Pfizer's and it does not even begin to address the relatively minor cognitive issues associated with statin use, such as increased forgetfulness, confusion, disorientation or increase of pre-existing senility, which are reported much more frequently than the far more severe amnesias.

The Netherlands Radar Television show has just taken a hard stand on the statin drugs side effect issue and the wide-scale use of Statins in general. Recently they interviewed Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, author of "The Cholesterol Myths", triggering an intensely negative reaction from Pfizer Netherlands and the medical community and an intensely positive reaction from their thousands of viewers who appeared to know far more than their doctors about statin side effects. A debate is being considered but so far organized medicine has yet to accept, no doubt a reflection of increasing numbers of their own doctors now aware of the shortcomings of this class of drugs.

Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon
Former NASA Astronaut
Retired Family Doctor

Books From Amazon

The Dark Side of Statins
The Statin Damage Crisis
Cholesterol is Not the Culprit
Statin Drugs Side Effects
Lipitor, Thief of Memory


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