12 Comments

Absolutely one of your best, Dr. Mandrola, and the clearest explanation I've come across of how risks & benefits are not easy to evaluate in preventive medicine, and why it's important for patients to do their share of the work and think things through. Many thanks.

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Exactly why I advocate strongly for the risk/benefit of early Covid treatment which our lovely fda has chosen to condem.

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You are so Awesome Dr.Mandrola.Thank you for sharing your knowledge.I look forward to each and every one of your subjects..Sincerely

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You are so Awesome Dr.Mandrola.Thank you for sharing your knowledge.I look forward to each and everyone of your subjects..Sincerely

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I enjoyed reading this post and I liked your comment that our ability to control future events is less than we think we are capable of. While I certainly do not want my patients to be blissful because of ignorance, I worry about creating anxiety in them by trying to prevent everything that can go wrong with them in the future.

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Dear Mandrola, I'm a resident cardiologist that work in Italy, I really appreciate your articles and your podcasts, you teached me a lot.

In my limited experience I saw that the correct balance between benefits and harms is one of the most difficult thing even because often doctors tend to see only benefits from therapies.

This week I read on Medscape this article "Cost-Effectiveness of Lipid-Lowering Treatments in Young Adults" [https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/965220]. I must say that I was very surprised. We should give statins to all ASCVD-free young adults that have LDL-C of ≥130 mg / dL? But also authors say "Intensive lifestyle intervention was more costly and less effective than statin therapy". Really? I think this conclusion is quite incredible!

It would be interesting to have a commentary to this study in a future episode of "This week in cardiology".

Thank you for your amazing work of scientific dissemination

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A very balanced and nicely written approach to one of the most confounding problems in medicine.

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I believe RCT' s one since 2000 have shown statins to be of little or no value. However, there is perhaps a set of markers which recommend statin regimen. High calcium score, apoB>100, apo-a >5. Are these the markers you look at instead of LDL-C?

thank yu

'

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Thank you. So well explained.

Frank R

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So true. We want to control our bodies, but the fact is we don't. All we can do is find that balance to improve our odds of staying healthy.

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Dr. JOHN,

I'm an old guy (81) who's had A-Fib for 20+ years and have survived three attempted ablation procedures. The last of them resulted in perforation of my heart, and was almost fatal. Needless to say, I am averse to any further invasive procedures: However in the intervening years I have become convinced that perhaps a modern pacemaker would be helpful - in that it could potentially reduce the drug loading I currently am subject to. Is there any data available related to outcomes from pacemaker use specifically as an a-fib treatment alternative?

I really enjoy your BLOG though my statistical skills are relatively weak.

Thanks,

Bob Everett

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Agree with every single word.

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