Top heart doc rubbishes cholesterol drugs claims

 One of Ireland’s leading cardiologists has moved to reassure the public about cholesterol lowering drugs that are prescribed to fight heart-disease, heart attack and stroke.

 Professor Kieran Daly, consultant cardiologist at University Hospital Galway (UHG), said people who are on statins should “absolutely” continue to take them.

Professor Daly, in an interview with the Connacht Sentinel, said statins have been extensively investigated and been found to have proven health benefits.

He warned that people who stop taking them are increasing the risk of a cardiac event such as a heart attack.

Professor Daly is the most senior cardiologist in the west of Ireland and the national lead for the Acute Coronary Syndrome Programme.

“Statins if properly selected in the proper patients do not do harm. They do a lot of good. If you are on one of these you are on it for a very good reason and you will benefit from it,” he said.

His comments come in the wake of a controversial review by a UHG colleague that questioned the effectiveness of statins, which have been hailed as a ‘wonder drug’ in the fight against heart disease.

UHG vascular surgeon, Dr Sherif Sultan, claimed that statin use can increase the risk of diabetes, cataracts and male impotence. He also claimed that they can increase the risk of cancer, and disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Dr Sultan’s analysis, and that of his colleague Niamh Hynes, was based on a review of studies published in the ‘Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases’.

But Professor Daly, the most respected cardiologist in the west, has poured cold water on the claims.

Describing the analysis as “irresponsible”, he said there was “no evidence” to back up the controversial claims in the article. The findings of the review were contained in a journal that is not peer-reviewed, and which, he said, would be “very low” down the pecking order of medical journals.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel