Medicines matter
November 5, 2013
Last week’s public debate
on statins prompted by
the ABC Catalyst program
is an opportunity to stress
the importance of taking
medicines as prescribed.
Both the National Heart
Foundation and NPS – the
national prescribing service
– issued calm, clear advice to
patients about the importance
of seeking medical advice
in the face of potentially
confusing public information.
NPS stated that high blood
cholesterol is one of several
well established risk factors
for developing cardiovascular
disease (CVD) and lowering
levels of cholesterol,
especially ’low density’ or
LDL cholesterol, plays an
important role in preventing
cardiovascular events.
The evidence is strong that
statins remain one of most
effective drug strategies
for reducing the risk of
cardiovascular disease.
According to NPS: “The
prescribing of statins should
follow national guidelines
based on absolute CVD risk
assessment. In people who
are deemed to have moderate
to high risk, statins have an
important, clinically proven
role to play in the prevention
of cardiovascular disease.”
The real danger of
misleading media reports is
that they may cause people to
stop taking their statins, which
may put them at increased
risk of a cardiovascular event,
particularly if they have
already had one previously.
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