BMJ study criticises negative statin coverage

A study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has criticised the widespread media coverage of controversy over statin use, claiming up to 200,000 patients may have quit the drug, which could pose significant risks to their health.

The research estimated that patients’ abandoning of the drug could lead to around 2,000 additional heart attacks and strokes within 10 years. It also highlighted that during this period, some GPs did not give patients a cardiovascular risk score, partly a result of both GPs and patients being less willing to discuss risk scores and statins, due to the potential side effects of the drug.

The study called for a more balanced reporting on the topic, suggesting that the debate had dented public confidence in the treatment.

The study cited UK GP practice records that showed there had been a 19 per cent increase in the proportion of people ceasing statin use for primary prevention, in the six months from March to October 2014, following intense media coverage of statin controversies.

Professor Liam Smeeth, co-author of the report, argued that the debate on statins ‘may have given disproportionate weight to a minority view about possible side effects, denting public confidence in a drug which most scientists and health professionals believe to be a safe and effective option against heart disease for the vast majority of patients’.

However, Dr Bill Beeby, deputy chair of the GPC clinical prescribing subcommittee, said the debate was ‘far from resolved, with large numbers of clinical trials remaining unpublished concealing much of the negative data surrounding their use’ and that ‘doctors who offer the benefits still lack all of the data to quantify the risks to individual patients’.