The earlier the better: statins to reduce cholesterol and cardiovascular disease

Statins are the most commonly prescribed, and perhaps one of the most controversial, drugs in the UK. In 2018, 7.9 million people took them, and 71 million statin prescriptions were dispensed (Nuffield Department of Population Health, 2021).

While there have been multiple negative headlines that may have influenced uptake of this potentially life-saving drug, multiple national bodies including the NHS and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), as well as charities such as the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and many other organisations, are in strong favour of the use of statins to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke (BHF, 2021). The BHF notes that the nature of how the drugs are used − as a preventive treatment prescribed at scale − can influence controversial headlines and multiple articles on the subject across the media sector. This can impact how people react to being prescribed these medications and to their medication adherence. Patients' concerns may feel irrational to healthcare professionals who know the research, but they are very real to the average person who does not work in the healthcare or medical sector, and who may have read about extremely worrying (though extremely rare) side effects. As such, adherence to such medication is an issue at times because of the influence of articles read by such patients. The BHF (2021) therefore highlights how crucial it is for health professionals to ensure that patients are well informed and are involved in the decision-making process regarding their treatment.