The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7208 p121
27 July 2002

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Heart Online (heart.bmjjournals.com)

Statins under-prescribed in the elderly

The majority of men in the United Kingdom eligible for treatment with cholesterol lowering drugs such as statins are still not getting them, despite recommendations in the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease.

A new British Heart Foundation funded study, published in this month’s issue of Heart (2002;88:15), has revealed that three-quarters of men with angina and two-thirds of men who have suffered a heart attack are not being prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs. Furthermore, the majority of those not being prescribed these agents had a cholesterol level over the maximum accepted level of 5mmol/L, as stated in the NSF.