Doctors Divided Over New Cholesterol Guidelines

Michael Krasny

Nov 19, 2013 at

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(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

When two leading heart organizations released new cholesterol guidelines last week, they included an online risk calculator to help doctors assess whether or not patients should take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Now, some experts say the new calculator overestimates heart attack risk, and could lead to over-prescription of statins. We discuss the controversial new guidelines and calculator, and examine the latest research on cholesterol and heart disease.

Guests:

Rita Redberg, cardiologist, professor of medicine at UCSF Medical Center and the editor of JAMA Internal Medicine

David Goff, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, chair of the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and co-leader of the group that came up with risk assessment guidelines for cardiovascular disease

Gina Kolata, science reporter for The New York Times

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