Four out of ten Englishmen can get statins

Forty percent of the adult English population will be offered lipid-lowering statin drugs on prescription.


Clearly, since the provisional guidelines from the British authority National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, Nice, became final July 18.

The limit for determining who should be offered statins lowered thus from a 20 percent risk of developing cardiovascular disease within ten years, to 10 percent. In the UK (except Scotland which has its own recommendations), it means an increase to about 13 million people who will be candidates for statin prescription, from about 7 million.

The controversial Swedish guidelines MPA published in late June, equaling the previous English border.

It felt Anders Hernborg, general practitioners in Halmstad who was one of the experts in the group around the Swedish recommendations, this was going too far. Sweden would follow England's new recommendations, which in turn follows the U.S., it would mean a ton of new patients at the health centers.

- Almost all Swedish men over 65 are above 2-3 percent of the Score value, which roughly corresponds to the English guidelines limit of 10 percent. Would all of these need to go to the doctor once a year, much of the district physicians time taken up and I do not know how we could do it.

In addition, the side effects of statins on 20-30 years not fully known.

Medically, neither the Swedish or English risk value when statins should be initiated, said to be right or wrong, he points out.

- It's all about politics, economics, and that medicalize people, about what is reasonable.

Anders Hernborg refers to his colleague Professor Peter Nilsson, who took up the opportunity to buy statins in certain doses without prescription to relieve care, which can be made in England.

- I'm also a bit hooked on it and can think of to consider the polypill, as Peter Nilsson also discusses - a pill containing blood pressure and lipid-lowering compounds that humans might be able to buy without prescription. It would be especially a good solution for many developing countries where prosperity and cardiovascular disease increases but can not afford the infrastructure we have for chronic diseases.