Statins patients fear GPS are paid to hand them out

Survey finds those at risk of heart disease ‘mistrust’ doctors’ motives and fail to take their drugs

PATIENTS at risk of heart disease are failing to take statins because they worry GPS are being paid to hand them out, researchers have said.

A study found “mistrust” over doctors’ motivations was reducing uptake of the potentially life-saving drug.

NHS bosses offer GP practices financial incentives to boost the rate of patients given the cholesterol-lowering medication. It follows a decrease in prescribing after controversy over the safety and efficacy of statins. But studies have shown that, once prescribed the drugs, adherence among patients who have not yet had a cardiovascular scare can be as low as 57 per cent.

The research, published in the British Journal of General Practice, analysed surveys comprising 888 patients in eight countries, including the UK.

It found a widely held belief among British patients that GPS have a tendency to over-prescribe statins, leading to suspicion over whether they personally needed the drugs. The qualitative study found patients were reluctant to stay on courses of statins because they feared it signified the end of their healthy life even when they were showing no symptoms of disease.

Under current guidelines set out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, statins should be recommended to patients judged to have 10 per cent risk of developing cardiovascular disease within a decade.

The threshold was halved from 20 per cent in 2014, and was backed up with financial incentives under the Quality Outcomes Framework, leading some experts to complain it gave GPS no latitude to recommend lifestyle changes before prescribing statins.

The watchdog also faced criticism, including from the Royal College of GPS, that millions of healthy patients were qualifying for statins simply by virtue of their age.

The BJGP study found the perception that GPS were over-prescribing “may partly be driven by the media coverage of the Quality and Outcomes Framework”. Its authors said GPS needed to overcome patient scepticism by explaining its benefits.

Prof Helen Stokes-lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPS, said: “It’s understandable that patients have concerns about ... statins given the controversy that has surrounded them in the media... There is high-quality, recent, research that demonstrates they are safe and effective drugs when prescribed and monitored appropriately, and that in most cases where adverse side effects are seen, these are reversible by stopping taking statins or switching to an alternative drug.”

Despite the national drive to put more people on statins, research at 250 GP practices last year found that the proportion of patients on the drugs who are at the highest risk of heart disease is actually shrinking.