Erin Allman‑Updyke and Erin Welsh

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988 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Aug 2026 last heard 4 Aug

Erin Allman‑Updyke and Erin Welsh’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.

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This Podcast Will Kill You · Ep 218 The Lowdown on Statins · 4 Aug 2026 podcast

So at the National Institutes of Health, plans had been underway since 1970 for a large-scale study that would measure the impact of cholesterol-lowering drugs on cardiovascular disease.

Previous studies had shown that high blood cholesterol levels overall correlated to higher rates of heart attacks.

But the next step was showing that lowering those levels would then lead to fewer cardiac events.

Exactly.

We know that there's this positive correlation between high levels and bad outcomes.

Can we change that?

Can we do something?

Because then that would also suggest it would be a very great evidence for causation.

For causation.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So the coronary primary prevention trial was designed to do exactly that, show this line of causation.

The study enrolled 3,800 men aged 35 to 59 with high total blood cholesterol, so 265 or higher.

And they were to be followed for at least five years.

The treatment group was supposed to take a cholesterol-lowering drug, cholestyramine.

Statins weren't yet approved at this point.

And all participants were instructed to follow a cholesterol-lowering diet.

Okay.

Knowing what we know today about the link between cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, a trial like this would not be conducted in the same way, where you would withhold drugs from one group.

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