In: Statistics and Probability
High levels of cholesterol in the blood are associated with higher risk of heart attacks. Will using a drug to lower blood cholesterol reduce heart attacks? The Helsinki Heart Study recruited middle-aged men with high cholesterol but no history of other serious medical problems to investigate this question. The volunteer subjects were assigned at random to one of two treatments: 2051 men took the drug gemfibrozil to reduce their cholesterol levels, and a control group of 2030 men took a placebo. During the next five years, 56 men in the gemfibrozil group and 84 men in the placebo group had heart attacks. Is the apparent benefit of gemfibrozil statistically significant? Perform an appropriate test to find out.