JanD wrote:
"Mark Probert wrote:
JanD wrote:
vernon wrote:
Ilena wrote in message
...
P.net!53ab2750!not-for-mail
From: "VERACARE"


Why has the FDA concealed from the public 51 deaths from ADHD drugs
until
now?

51 out of around 100,000 per year of miss-prescribed and errors is
quite insignificant.
Instead of cutting and pasting, please attempt to address my comments:

You are mistaken in your interpretation of the numbers. The NY Times
reported that this was a study of five years of records, 1999 through
2003. The number of deaths is also incorrect.

So you say.

I take YOUR word for nothing.

Who said to take my word, although you would be wise to do so. I posted,
right below your asinine remark, a quote from a NYTimes article to
support my statement. IOW, I posted facts.

"Twenty-five people died suddenly and 54 others suffered serious
unexplained heart problems while taking stimulant drugs like Ritalin from
1999 through 2003, according to reports sent to federal drug regulators."

Now, let's take a minute and analyze this. Twenty-five people died over
the course of 5 years. That averages to 5 deaths per year. The NYTimes
then reports that "...[a]bout 29 million prescriptions were written in
2004 for Ritalin, Adderall and similar drugs to treat attention deficit
disorder and hyperactivity, most of them for children."

Assume that the average prescription rate is *only* 25,000,000 per year.
Since these medications are Schedule II, which means that only a one
months supply can be written at a time, approximately 2,083,333 people per
month are, on average, being prescribed these medications.

Assume that all 5 deaths happened in the same month, and you wind up with
a rate of 2.4000003840000614400098304015729e-6.

Compare that with the odds of being struck by lightening:

No, I don't think so.

Yes, you do not think. However, in a risk assessment, comparison is a
valuable tool to see just what degree of risk is involved.

This is a diversion, trying to justify the deaths.

Wrong. You raise a red herring. I am NOT trying to justify the deaths
simply because no one has said that there is a direct connection between
taking the medications and the deaths. What is reported is something
that someone believes is of statistical significance. My analysis
attempts to put that claim into a statistical perspective so that
intelligent people can make their own risk assessment.

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.htm

My younger son attends a special school for physically handicapped
students. In the past three years, two classmates have died for no
apparent reason, the last being in December 2005. One of the kids in my
neighborhood died from running the bases. His father is a DDS and was at
the school at the time. He is trained in using a defibrillator and could
not resuscitate his son.

I would classify this report and just this side of relatively meaningless.

Continuing...

For this statistical point to have significant clinical meaning, a study
must show that taking these medications actually increases the risk of
death. The point I made is that there are many "healthy" children who
die for no apparent reason, and to draw any conclusion from this current
report, other than more study and research is needed, is absurd.

Of course, Jan, I do not expect you to understand this as your agenda of
hating children, wanting them to have wasted lives, wanting to see sick
and dead children due to lack of vaccination, etc. will stand in your
way of reason.