International Symposium on Atherosclerosis.

[WillBrink]

This may not be a tacti-cool topic, but statistically speaking, Atherosclerosis is what kills most LEOs. It's the number one killer in the US, and LEOs suffer higher rates then the general public. I start all my seminars by pointing out that you wear a vest to prevent getting shot and go to the range (hopefully...) to shoot, but cardio vascular disease is what's likely to get you, so....

XV International Symposium on Atherosclerosis.
September 10th, 2009 by Will Brink

This Symposium - held triennially by the International Atherosclerosis Society - offers the world’s largest presentation of new research and clinical findings regarding Atherosclerosis. This important meeting was held June 14-18, 2009 in Boston MA. As Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of both heart disease and stroke, which together account for more than half of all mortality and morbidity in developed societies, and is the number one killer of US citizens, making headway against this diseases would result in millions of lives saved. This scientific/medical meeting covered a wide range of topics, from detection, prevention, and treatment of cardiovascular disease to the pathogenesis and biology of this disease as well as intervention, such as lifestyle and drug therapies, that may prevent it from developing in the first place.

The Efficacy Of Statins…

One of the most important talks at this conference looked at the efficacy of statins and was given by a Dr. Kastelein from the Netherlands. There are currently seven versions of this drug available for clinical use: atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pitavastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin. Although controversial, the bulk of the data to date finds these drugs can be of clinical value in some populations. According to Dr. Kastelein “Statin treatment markedly improves outcomes of hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia patients by lowering their plasma levels of low-density lipid cholesterol (LDL-C), thereby reducing the frequency of primary and secondary cardiovascular (CV) events.”

However he also made it clear that “…despite coronary heart disease (CHD) morbidity and mortality being significantly reduced following treatment with these drugs, it is not eliminated completely.”

Therefore, it’s clear that statin drugs are not a cure-all for this disease, and unless combined with lifestyle changes, such as nutrition and exercise - and possibly nutritional supplementation - these and other drugs may not prevent cardio vascular disease when used alone. Of course, for many, making those needed changes in lifestyle will eliminate the need for a statin drug in the first place, but that is not true in all cases as some people have a genetic predisposition to dyslipidemia and or cardio vascular disease.

Cont:

XV International Symposium on Atherosclerosis.

[JSD73]

Interesting, as I am anti statin, but my mother has had high cholesterol for a long long while. Hers was over 300, and when I had mine done, I had over 500 on cholesterol, over 800 on triglycerides. Suffered a couple bouts of pancreatitis...very painful.

I have since got the levels down, without statins, but they are still high per last reading....I chalk it up to genetics....and we won't get into the low HDL and high LDL. but the c reactive protein test showed normal. Stress is a huge factor in high cholesterol in some folks and there is plenty of stress in this career path.

[WillBrink]

Interesting, as I am anti statin, but my mother has had high cholesterol for a long long while. Hers was over 300, and when I had mine done, I had over 500 on cholesterol, over 800 on triglycerides. Suffered a couple bouts of pancreatitis...very painful.

I have since got the levels down, without statins, but they are still high per last reading....I chalk it up to genetics....and we won't get into the low HDL and high LDL. but the c reactive protein test showed normal. Stress is a huge factor in high cholesterol in some folks and there is plenty of stress in this career path.

In studies looking at higher rates of CVD in the LEO population, even when they adjust for the "usual suspects" which is smoking, lack of exercise, and diet, they still suffer higher rates. They attribute that to the stress.

Read the rest of the article for the non statin related info.