Nominees for the Reckless Award
The day before yesterday a group of doctors from the nutrition committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a couple of the most absurd recommendations imaginable. Not only were these recommendations silly beyond belief, one was downright dangerous to boot. I’m talking, of course, about the recommendations that children as young as 8 years old who have LDL concentrations ≥ 190 mg/dL be prescribed statins. (The other one marinated in idiocy is the recommendation that low-fat dairy products be be used in overweight children between the ages of 12 months and 2 years. These two are among 7 recommendations published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics. All 7 recommendations are listed below*)
Drs. Stephen R. Daniels, Frank R. Greer and the rest of those on the nutrition committee are nominees for the Reckless Award. In fact, their recommendations are so egregious that had they come before the eponymous Dr. John Reckless’s suggestion that statins be put in the drinking water the award would be named after them instead.
Why is the recommendation to give statins to children aged 8 and greater so dangerous? Because no drug therapy is without risk. When as a physician you give drugs to patients, you know there are risks involved, but you balance these risks with the rewards to the patient from taking the drug. In the case of statins, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that statins will reduce the incidence of early heart disease and/or death in these children as they reach adulthood. And there is no evidence whatsoever that years of statin therapy in these kids as they age won’t cause disastrous problems later on.
