Pickin DM, McCabe CJ, Ramsay LE et al. Cost effectiveness of HMG–CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) treatment related to the risk of coronary heart disease and cost of drug treatment. Heart 1999;82:325-32.
[Medline reference]
This paper estimates cost effectiveness of statins to prevent coronary heart disease and concludes treatment for secondary prevention, and primary prevention at a risk of 0.3per cent, to be as cost-effective as many other widely used treatments. However it also acknowledges that there are large numbers of patients to be treated, which will have a major impact on primary care drug budgets.
What's in the medical press? - The rapidly changing situation in primary care means that it is often difficult to keep up to date with what is happening politically and clinically. This section of Primary Care Pharmacy will try to pick out a few articles that may be useful in day-to-day practice or have importance for the primary care role.