- Patients at risk of developing heart disease are not being given statins they need
- Four in five of those who took part in the NHS Health Check scheme since 2013 were found to need the cholesterol-reducing drug but were not prescribed it
- Estimated 162,000 people a year in the UK are not receiving the right treatment
Fionn Hargreaves For The Daily Mail
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More than 150,000 patients a year at risk of developing heart disease are not being given statins, figures suggest.
Four in five of those who took part in the NHS Health Check scheme since 2013 were found to need the cholesterol-reducing drug but were not prescribed it, according to figures released by Public Health England. The Health Check, which is believed to cost £32 million a year, was launched in 2009 to help prevent heart disease among middle-aged people not yet showing symptoms.
But even between 50 and 80 per cent of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) diagnoses may be classed as ‘preventable’, an estimated 162,000 people a year are not receiving the right treatment.
More than 150,000 patients a year at risk of developing heart disease are not being given statins
According to guidelines set by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, a patient should be prescribed statins if they have at least a ten per cent chance of having a heart attack in the next ten years.
While around 3.9million Britons are at least 20 per cent at risk of developing CVD, less than half are given statins.
Statins, which help to reduce the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the bloodstream, are commonly used to treat cases of heart disease, strokes and heart attacks.
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Patients can also reduce their risk of developing heart disease by making lifestyle changes such as exercising more and giving up smoking.
Around one in seven people are currently taking statins, according to NHS Digital.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘The College has concerns about the efficacy of blanket NHS health checks, such as the potential for overdiagnosis of patients, and particularly at a time when general practice is under intense resource and workforce pressures.’
Dr Matt Kearney, of NHS England, said: ‘The decision to prescribe what is likely to be a daily medication for life is complex and based on each patient’s individual circumstances.’
Four in five of those who took part in the NHS Health Check scheme since 2013 were found to need the cholesterol-reducing drug but were not prescribed it
Francesco Cappuccio, president of the British Hypotension Society, underwent the Health Check himself and criticised the scheme as ‘formulaic’ and ‘ridiculous’.
He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘The Health Check was designed exactly to catch the difficult-to-catch people, but these numbers [prescription of statins] are very, very low.
‘Once you already have symptoms of these conditions, it can already be too late.’
In March it was reported a record 1.1billion prescriptions were handed out last year – an increase of nearly 40 per cent in a decade.
According to guidelines set by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, a patient should be prescribed statins if they have at least a ten per cent chance of having a heart attack in the next ten years
Figures show statins, high blood pressure and heart failure drugs, and antidepressants are most common.
Prescriptions for cholesterol-lowering statins have risen by 53 per cent in a decade, with 72.6million given out last year.
There were also 71.5million for high blood pressure and heart failure drugs – up 33 per cent over the same period.
Health watchdog Nice said its new guidelines would recommend that millions more be offered high blood pressure pills – as it did for statins in 2014.
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Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5568407/More-150-000-people-year-risk-developing-heart-disease.html