Everybody Takes a Statin, Don’t They?

The end of patent protection for the statin Zocor means that statins will be much cheaper – so cheap, in fact, that many more people can afford to take them (or rather their health insurance companies can afford to allow doctors to prescribe them more often). But should more people be taking them?

Different countries have different guidelines for prescribing statins, and Canadian researchers have compared those from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and British and European medical societies; they come to some conclusions regarding the best compromise to reach, both for individuals and for health providers.

The calculations used examined the different percentage of the population treated with a statin and the number of deaths per 1000 avoided, according to the different recommendations. Clearly, more deaths will be avoided if more people are treated, but the ‘law of diminishing returns’ kicks in at some point. The trick is to find that point.

The researchers found that the New Zealand , Australian, and British recommendations were the most efficient in reducing the likely deaths from heart disease in numbers as close as possible to the optimal effectiveness. The European, Canadian, and US guidelines were less effective, resulting in the possibility of treating more people with less likelihood of success. The best results can be achieved by focusing statin use on people with the highest risk of coronary heart disease; the risk factors are well known!