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| Guidelines call for more people to be put on statins | Guidelines call for more people to be put on statins |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Millions more people should be put on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to protect them against heart attacks and strokes, according to draft guidelines for the NHS in England. | Millions more people should be put on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to protect them against heart attacks and strokes, according to draft guidelines for the NHS in England. |
| The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says the scope for offering this treatment should be widened to save more lives. | The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says the scope for offering this treatment should be widened to save more lives. |
| Death rates have been decreasing in recent years, but cardiovascular disease remains the leading UK killer. | Death rates have been decreasing in recent years, but cardiovascular disease remains the leading UK killer. |
| It claims about 180,000 lives a year. | It claims about 180,000 lives a year. |
| Currently, doctors are meant to offer statin tablets to the estimated seven million people who have a 20% chance of developing cardiovascular disease over 10 years, based on risk factors such as their age, sex, whether they smoke and what they weigh. | Currently, doctors are meant to offer statin tablets to the estimated seven million people who have a 20% chance of developing cardiovascular disease over 10 years, based on risk factors such as their age, sex, whether they smoke and what they weigh. |
| NICE is now suggesting that people with as low as a one in 10 or 10% risk should be offered statins. | NICE is now suggesting that people with as low as a one in 10 or 10% risk should be offered statins. |
| Doctors will need to "make a judgement" about the risks to people who have a less than 10% risk of developing cardiovascular disease and advise them appropriately, say the draft guidelines. | |
| The NHS currently spends about £450m a year on statins. If the draft recommendations go ahead, this bill will increase substantially, although the drugs have become significantly cheaper over the years. | |
| It is not clear precisely how many more people would be eligible for statin therapy than now, but NICE says it could be many hundreds of thousands or millions. | It is not clear precisely how many more people would be eligible for statin therapy than now, but NICE says it could be many hundreds of thousands or millions. |
| Prof Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, said the guidelines did need updating and agreed that more people stood to benefit from taking statins. | Prof Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, said the guidelines did need updating and agreed that more people stood to benefit from taking statins. |
| Cardiovascular disease develops when fatty substances build up in the arteries and narrow them, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke. | Cardiovascular disease develops when fatty substances build up in the arteries and narrow them, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke. |
| Too much cholesterol in the blood can lead to these fatty deposits. Statin drugs work by lowering cholesterol. | |
| Eating a healthy diet, doing regular exercise and keeping slim will also help lower cholesterol. | Eating a healthy diet, doing regular exercise and keeping slim will also help lower cholesterol. |
| Like all medicines, statins have potential side-effects. | Like all medicines, statins have potential side-effects. |
| They have been linked to muscle, liver and kidney problems, but only in a very small number of cases. | |
| Prof Simon Maxwell, of the British Pharmacological Society, said: "Patients should be helped to make a truly informed decision about the benefits and risks of taking long-term preventative therapy that will not make them feel any better in the short term. | |
| "We should avoid misapplication of such a recommendation without proper individual patient counselling." | "We should avoid misapplication of such a recommendation without proper individual patient counselling." |