A
“significant” proportion of patients being put on cholesterol-lowering drugs are
deemed to be at low risk of having a heart attack or stroke, a new study
suggests.
Researchers
found there could be “significant over-treatment” of statin therapy among
patients who have less than a 10% chance of developing cardiovascular disease
(CVD) within 10 years.
The
study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, tracked statin
prescribing over a period of time.
Researchers
from the University of Birmingham looked at data from 1.4 million patients aged
over 40 across 248 GP practices across England and Wales between 2000 and
2015.
Over
this time period, 217,860 patients started statin treatment. Huff
Post.
