Should statins be prescribed to more over-50s?

WHY prescribe statins for everyone? What is the benefit in comparison to the cost? My doctor produced a computerised profile that showed I had a 20 per cent risk of having a stroke or heart attack. I replied that meant I had an 80 per cent chance of not having either condition and I wasn’t going to take pills on the off-chance.

IAn FULLer, Harrogate, n. Yorks. I’M RELIEVED GPs can prescribe life-saving statins to anyone who wants them. They prevent heart attacks and strokes, are safe and rarely cause side-effects.

M. SPrInGer, reading, Berks. HOW can doctors hand out statins on demand? It takes three weeks

to get an appointment. Face to face with my GP, I’d be so overcome I’d forget to ask for statins.

SUe neweLL, Melton Mowbray, Leics. STATINS cost just 2p per day so should not require a prescription and the cost must not be borne by the NHS. A month’s supply would cost less than a newspaper.

deS MorGAn, Swindon, wilts. HAVING been prescribed statins after a heart attack, I had the constant sensation of having to pass water and suffered from muscle and joint aches.

I don’t agree with so-called experts who say these symptoms are down to age.

After seeing my GP, I stopped taking the statins and after several months the symptoms disappeared.

M. G. YeoMAnS, Tuffley, Glos. I AM 83 and until last summer was playing golf three times a week. After tests showed I had a 50 per cent chance of dying in ten years — which seemed pretty good odds to me — I was prescribed statins. Soon I was hardly able to climb the stairs. Research suggests the over75s may not need statins unless they have had a heart attack. I consulted my GP, stopped taking them and am once again playing golf.

roGer PoVeY, Marlow, Bucks. STATINS on demand are all very well until you see your holiday insurance premium rise.