Niacin has been a mainstay cholesterol therapy for 50 years but it should no longer be prescribed for most patients due to potential increased risk of death, dangerous side effects and no benefit in reducing heart attacks and strokes, according to an editorial in the
New England Journal of Medicine.
The editorial by Northwestern Medicine® preventive cardiologist Donald Lloyd-Jones, M.D., is based on a large new study that looked at adults, ages 50 to 80, with cardiovascular disease who took extended-release niacin (vitamin B3) and laropiprant (a drug that reduces face flushing caused by high doses of niacin) to see if it reduced heart attack and stroke compared to a placebo over four years. All patients in the trial were already being treated with a statin medication.
LDL Not the Primary Culprit in ASCVD?
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ADA 2021 Standards Address Financial Hardship in Diabetes
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Some Covid survivors may need heart screening before exercising Jacqueline Stenson © Provided by NBC News
With Covid-19 linked to heart muscle inflammation known as myocarditis, doctors are concerned about patients returning to physical activity safely. Exercising with myocarditis can lead to irregular heartbeats and sudden cardiac death, a well-documented worry with athletes.
But which people who’ve had Covid-19 are at risk? And who should be screened with a battery of heart tests before being cleared for exercise?
Those questions were a main focus of a recent virtual sports medicine conference sponsored by the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.