NICE publishes guidance to widen statins treatment
Despite failing to win the backing by the British Medical Association, NICE has stuck to its decision to widen the number of patients eligible for statin treatment.
The decision by NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) will see anyone with a 10% risk of heart disease in the next 10 years offered statin treatment. The guidelines will take effect immediately within England but will require signing off in Northern Ireland and Wales. NHS Scotland has proposed no plans to widen statin treatment however.
The guideline (clinical guideline 181) will mean the majority of people with diabetes in the UK will be offered statins, if they are not taking them already, and millions of people without diabetes will be offered statins as well. The guidelines note that people prescribed statins should receive annual medication reviews.
The decision to widen statin treatment is not without controversy. The General Practitioners Committee (GPC), part of the British Medical Association, has spoken out about its doubts over the new plans, stating: “There is insufficient evidence of significant overall benefit to low-risk individuals to allow GPs to have confidence in the recommendation.”
Within the medical community opinion is widely polarised over the regularity of side effects associated …read more
Source: News from Diabetes.co.uk