Storm over Statins

(recommended by Mario Maranhao)

Storm over Statins — The Controversy Surrounding Pharmacologic Treatment of Children

Sarah de Ferranti, M.D., M.P.H., and David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D.

In July of this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released revised recommendations

for the management of hypercholesterolemia in children.  Within days after publication, the new policy statement had elicited a firestorm of controversy — including hundreds of print and broadcast news stories, editorials in the New York Times and the Boston Globe, and thousands of Internet postings — that took many members of the pediatrics community by surprise. The AAP and the National Cholesterol Education Program have advocated targeted screening and pharmacologic treatment for nearly two decades. What sparked this sudden flurry of media attention?