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Statins: Millions more to get drugs in controversial plans
By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website
statin pill
Fatty deposits narrow arteries, storing up problems for the future
Doctors have been told to offer cholesterol-lowering statins to millions more people in a massive and controversial expansion in prescribing.
Four in 10 adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are now eligible for statins, even though many are at low risk of a heart attack or stroke.
The medicines regulator, NICE, says it will save lives.
There has been vocal opposition to the plans, and doctors' leaders said they had no confidence in the decision.
But all sides of the debate say people who are already taking statins should continue to take their medication.
Major issue
Cardiovascular disease - which includes heart attacks and strokes - is the UK's biggest killer.
It claims 180,000 lives a year and is behind one in three deaths.
Statins reduce the build-up of fatty-plaques that lead to blockages in blood vessels.
They are already given to high-risk patients who have a one in five chance of a heart attack in the next decade.
Medicines regulator the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is now telling doctors to give statins to low-risk patients with a one in 10 chance of a heart attack in the next decade if measures to improve lifestyle fail.
Effectively every healthy man over 60 - or woman over 65 - could be offered statins.
Those with high cholesterol, smokers, the obese or with a strong family history of heart problems could be offered the drugs at an even younger age.
NICE said it had conducted the "best and most complete review of evidence in this field" and concluded that giving the drugs to low-risk patients would have benefits.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28352290
