The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has released new draft guidance that could see statins being prescribed to people with a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Under current NICE guidance people with a 10% or higher risk over 10 years of a cardiovascular event should be offered a statin. The updated draft guideline recommends statins to be considered as part of shared decision-making for people who haven’t had a CVD event, with a 10-year CVD risk score less than 10%.
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Paul Chrisp, director of the Centre for Guidelines at NICE has said that the evidence is clear in the view of the organisation that statins are an appropriate choice for people with a 10% or less risk.
However, Mr Chrisp wanted to make clear that NICE are not advocating that statins are used alone.
‘The draft guideline continues to say that it is only if lifestyle changes on their own are not sufficient, and that other risk factors such as hypertension are also managed, that people who are still at risk can be offered the opportunity to use a statin, if they want to.’
This decision comes as the independent committee updating NICE guidelines on CVD risk assessment and reduction considered new evidence on the side effects and safety of statins, meaning more people could be given them.
Mr Chrisp said: ‘NICE estimates that under this new recommendation, on average, for every 1,000 people with a risk of 5% over the next 10 years who take a statin, about 20 people will not get heart disease or have a stroke.’