GPs can consider prescribing statins to people with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease under new drafts of Nice guidance updates, Pulse reports.
“Consider atorvastatin 20 mg for the primary prevention of CVD for people with a 10-year QRISK3 score less than 10% where there is patient preference for taking a statin or concern that risk may be underestimated,” authors suggest.
The last guidance on the subject was published in 2014.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “This draft guidance will certainly create some healthy debate around prescribing and workload, particularly with the suggested removal of the lower 10% threshold, effectively opening up requests for statins from anyone aged over 25.
“Once the press gets wind of this, no doubt many of our consultations will now include an extra conversation about this, and so whatever the final outcome, having certainty from the final published guidelines as soon as possible will be tremendously helpful.