Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
GPs are set to prescribe statins to millions more patients, after NICE advised lowering the threshold at which patients are treated to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Patients with a 10% or greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the next decade should be offered statins, the institute said - half the risk level currently used to steer treatment.
The latest risk-assessment score, QRISK2, will become the standard tool to assess most patients, while atorvastatin is favoured over simvastatin for primary prevention.
It marks a significant change to NICE?s lipid management advice, last updated in 2008.
Experts welcomed the move and said the shift was largely due to the falling price of statins, in particular atorvastatin, the patent for which expired in 2012.
http://www.gponline.com/bulletin/da...statins-millions-patients-major-nice-rethink/
(free registration required)
Patients with a 10% or greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the next decade should be offered statins, the institute said - half the risk level currently used to steer treatment.
The latest risk-assessment score, QRISK2, will become the standard tool to assess most patients, while atorvastatin is favoured over simvastatin for primary prevention.
It marks a significant change to NICE?s lipid management advice, last updated in 2008.
Experts welcomed the move and said the shift was largely due to the falling price of statins, in particular atorvastatin, the patent for which expired in 2012.
http://www.gponline.com/bulletin/da...statins-millions-patients-major-nice-rethink/
(free registration required)