- Statins could be offered to half of all adults in UK under new guidelines
- Â Doctors asked to check patient records for those at risk of side effects
- Check ups will then be scheduled, potentially causing backlogs at surgeriesÂ
53
View
comments
Almost half of all adults could be offered statins under new guidelines from the health watchdog.
NICE is advising GPs to consider prescribing the pills to up to 17million patients to prevent heart disease.
Family doctors are being urged to trawl medical records to find patients at risk who will then be invited in for check-ups.
Family doctors are being asked to trawl through the medical records of patients to find those at risk from the side-affects of statins, then book check-up appointments which they warn could over-burden surgeries
However, GPs say that already overstretched surgeries will be deluged with patients booking the check-ups, leading to even longer waiting times for appointments.
Other doctors warn that the population faces being ‘medicalised’ when too little is known about the potential side-effects.
The known side-effects include type 2 diabetes and severe muscular pain and there is also evidence that patients regard the pills as an excuse to lead unhealthy lifestyles.
Guidelines issued by NICE today tell GPs to consider prescribing statins to anyone with a 10 per cent risk of developing heart disease within a decade (generally people over the age of 40). Currently, they are offered to patients with a 20 per cent risk.
NICE estimates that between five and ten million adults are currently taking the drugs, although 12.5million are eligible.
But under the new guidelines, another 4.5million would qualify.
This means that 17million adults – nearly half of the 37million adults in Britain – would either be on statins or offered them.
NICE estimates that it would cost the NHS an extra £52million to prescribe statins to the 4.5million adults newly eligible. Experts say if all eligible patients took statins, 510,000 heart attacks or strokes could be prevented a year.Â
Professor Mark Baker, director of the Centre for Clinical Practice at NICE, said: ‘Statins are safe and effective and now they are cheaper it is a good deal for more people to have access to them under the NHS.
‘The overwhelming body of evidence supports their use, even in people at low risk of cardiovascular disease. The effectiveness of these medicines is now well proven and their cost has fallen.
‘It is ludicrous to suggest that we are over-medicalising the population when the whole point of using modern, safe and effective drugs in an economic way is to prevent bad things happening in the future.’Â
However, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: ‘In making their decision NICE have failed to take the current pressures on general practice into account, and the further impact this will have on already overstretched GPs and those patients requiring treatment for other illnesses.’
Other experts say there is no evidence the drugs prevent heart attacks or strokes in healthy patients who don’t have heart disease.Â
Dr Kailash Chand, a GP and deputy chair of the British Medical Association who stopped taking statins after developing crippling muscle pain, said: ‘These guidelines mean you are medicalising millions of the population without any evidence.
‘Statins have an important role for patients who already have heart disease. But for healthy patients, the benefits are very, very minimal.Â
‘When people have side effects and they need follow-up investigations and scans they are going to take up a lot of time and NHS resources.’
Dr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist who also runs the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges, said: ‘A mass prescription to millions of healthy people will not benefit population health and will contribute to excess costs.Â
‘Low-risk patients must be told statins will not reduce their risk of death. What I see with my own patients is they think they have got the magic pill, which is an excuse to gorge on junk food.’
Last month it emerged that six of the 12-strong panel of experts drawing up the NICE guidelines had financial links to drugs firms making statins, or similar pills.
At the time a group of leading doctors wrote to NICE and the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging them to rethink the proposed guidelines.
Â
or comment on this article
-
Choking shark concerns beachgoers by swimming to shore
-
Obama mentions Malaysia plane crash only briefly in Delaware
-
Passenger plane ‘shot down on Russia/Ukraine border’
-
Is this the moment that Malaysian flight was shot out of the…
-
Video claims to show moment Malaysian flight was ‘shot down’
-
Brief insight into the bizarre characters goings-on in…
-
Miami cops brawl after traffic stop gets out of hand
-
Extraordinary story of Lilica the junkyard dog
-
Pro-Russian rebels ‘discuss downing of Malaysian jet’
-
The radar route of Malaysian Airlines plane MH17
-
Howard Stern fan pranks MSNBC
-
Smoke and debris believed to be from flight MH17 falling to…
-
Putin blames Ukraine for loss of Flight MH17 with 295…
-
‘It looks like it may be a terrible tragedy’: Obama goes…
-
The incredible moment a great white shark chokes on a sea…
-
Husband leaves his naked wife on sandbar after violent spat…
-
‘That was a blast – look at the smoke’: Sick boast of the…
-
Wife and mother killed and two other hostages thrown from a…
-
Redhead twins, 19, arrested on prostitution charges after…
-
Chinese man whose life was ruined after childhood wolf…
-
Hillary’s $2,777 PER MINUTE speaking contracts demand a…
-
Running for their lives: Haunting images capture tragic last…
-
Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son opens up to Oprah about his…
-
Scenes reminiscent of MH370 disaster as distraught MH17…
Comments (58)
what you think
-
Newest -
Oldest -
Best rated -
Worst rated
The comments below have not been moderated.
Keith.W,
Nuneaton, United Kingdom,
moments ago
Apart from NICE’s vested interest in widespread use of statins, something about this stinks to high heaven. They have terrible side effects including, memory loss and type 2 diabetes. Is there some thing else that they’re not telling us I wonder? The cheaper ones cost pennies a day to prescribe, you will pay way above this for every prescription – a nice little earner for the NHS??
Monalisa Oak,
London,
5 minutes ago
This horrible drug had affected my friend’s liver and kidney functioning PLUS muscle pains Also making him feel tired so please THINK twice before you accept this life threatening drug with so many adverse effects! My friend simply stopped taking this drug to lower his cholesterol and found out much more effective an alternative remedy with no side effects whatsoever because it is an herbal plant that is being used by millions of Brits and Europeans in their everyday cooking!
Kenny West Midlands,
Birmingham, United Kingdom,
29 minutes ago
I have posted on this topic before so I will repeat again. After many years on statins I quite suddenly became intolerant to them. Horrible joint and muscular pain. Couldn’t turn over in bed without severe pain. I am now type 2 diabetic. Not severe and it is controlled by diet without too much effort. My advice (from experience) is this. If you have not had a cardio-vascular event avoid statins like the plague.
Keith.W,
Nuneaton, United Kingdom,
8 minutes ago
lisa,
newcastle upon tyne,
30 minutes ago
I would rather have a shorter life span and feel well the to have a longer life and feel ill all the time with statins. Can’t see the point of making yourself ill just to live longer, it doesn’t make sense
contact,
Liverpool, United Kingdom,
40 minutes ago
Search online Doctor Mcdougall Medical Centre everything you need explained ..People are now getting information …And The Meat Industry,Dairy Industry, and Pharmaceutical Industry DON’T LIKE IT.We have ALL been misinformed …But now we Know.. Search also Forks Over Knifes..
SammyD,
Scotland, United Kingdom,
42 minutes ago
Well they can ‘offer’ them all they like but I for one won’t take them. Seen too many friends badly affected, by the most well known one (also the cheapest!). Muscle aches and serious hair loss being just two, plus they don’t know the really long term effects. They are over medicating us and too many accept this without question. Not me!
Helen,
Plymouth,
44 minutes ago
I took statins for about a month. Had terrible muscle pains and felt very unwell, never again!
mickjack,
Wellingborough, United Kingdom,
46 minutes ago
Dear Doctor,
Please don’t contact me about taking Statins, i tried them years ago and they made me feel old and
decrepit,
At 76 i don’t take any medication and feel ok, i’m fit and healthy
elley123,
london, New Zealand,
52 minutes ago
im on them there great and ive lost weight side affects dissapeare after a while the best one to be on are atrovastain you get less side affects from them but they are the most expensive so you have to ask your doctor my readings have gone down from 6.5 to 3.5
carlyle35,
norwich,
27 minutes ago
meagain,
Greece and UK, United Kingdom,
5 minutes ago
Lauren,
Australia,
1 hour ago
Many people function well with statins but many do not. The sensitive amongst us, those who know when they have drunk a bottle of wine or beer with bad preservatives or react when they inhale something caustic will tell you how statin medication feels. The fact that many do not react does not mean they are not poisonous. They are. Be wary, very wary.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
Find out now