Give statins to all men at 60 and women from 75

STATINS should be prescribed to all men over 65 and women over 75, a study claims today.

Millions of adults should take the cholesterol-lowering pills to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

But some 6.3million people are not using the drugs despite the fact they are considered to be at high risk.

Harvard researchers estimate that if statins were given to all eligible adults in the UK, around 290,000 heart attacks and strokes would be avoided each year. Their study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, is the most accurate prediction so far of the numbers of adults who should be on statins.

According to guidance issued in England by health watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the pills should be offered to anyone with a 10 per cent risk of having a heart attack or stroke within a decade.

In Scotland, one in seven takes statins as record numbers are prescribed the drugs to cut their risk of a heart attack or stroke.

But doctors have warned the ‘magic pills’ are being handed out too easily, with the NHS waving a white flag in the face of the obesity crisis.

Figures show more than 715,000 Scots are taking statins to lower their cholesterol. This raises fears they are being handed out more often, with 13.4 per cent of the population on the drugs, compared to a UK rate of less than 11 per cent.

Statins are the second most commonly prescribed drugs north of the Border, behind acid reflux drug omeprazole.

The researchers used Nice recommendations to work out how many adults should take statins based on the age range, ethnicity and general health of the population.

They estimate the pills should be given to 11.8million adults, but more than half – 6.3million – were not taking them.

This would suggest they are massively under-prescribed by GPs and shunned by patients worried about side effects.

In fact, the researchers estimate that each family doctor would need to offer statins to an extra 200 patients for the guidelines to be met.

Yet many GPs and academics are worried about the side effects of the pills, which include diabetes, muscle ache and memory loss.

There has been little research into ‘adverse events’ and drug firms have refused to publish details of their own trials.

Other experts, including Nice, say the benefits of statins far outweigh any risks.

Previous research by Oxford University has found they prevent at least 80,000 heart attacks and strokes a year.

Men tend to have heart attacks and strokes earlier in life, which is why they are more likely to be prescribed them at a younger age. But if only a third of men over 60 are taking the pills at present, then this number will need to treble to meet Nice guidelines.

Professor Mark Baker, director of the centre for guidelines at Nice, said: ‘Heart disease and stroke are largely age-related, killing one in three of us and disabling many more.

‘To make progress in the battle against heart disease and stroke, we must encourage exercise, improve our diets still further, stop smoking and where appropriate offer statins to people at risk.’

Heart disease, which includes heart attacks and strokes, is the second biggest killer in the UK after cancer.

It claims 160,000 lives a year and leaves thousands of others with long-term disability or brain damage.

But Professor Helen StokesLampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said doctors had to respect patients’ wishes.

She added: ‘Statins have been found to be highly effective drugs at preventing cardiovascular disease by reducing cholesterol levels, and research has shown that taking them is safe. But patients should only take medication if they need to, and specifically they are at high risk of developing conditions that statins can help prevent.

‘We need to get the risk scores right. If we find that all men over 60 and all women over 75 are going to be eligible for statins with new risk scoring, regardless of any other risk factor, then it should ring alarm bells – because it is not clear that every 60-year-old man or 75-year-old woman is going to benefit from statin therapy.

‘As with any drug, taking statin medication has potential side effects and taking any medication long term is a substantial undertaking for patients.’

‘It should ring alarm bells’