As the home of cooked breakfasts and pints of beer, it is perhaps no surprise that Britain is the European king of anti-cholesterol drugs with some 7m users. But, [s]Medical Xpress[/s] reports, recommendations to widen the use of statins have sparked a national debate about their merits and whether they are really a silver bullet to stave off heart attacks.
'The main reason they are so widely prescribed is because the evidence shows that they are very effective,' said Maureen Talbot, nurse manager at the [b]British Heart Foundation[/b] (BHF) charity. However, critics say statins are being prescribed too easily, and that people should be asked to change their behaviour before turning to medication.
[link url=http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-britons-european-kings-anti-cholesterol-drugs.html] Full Medical Xpress report[/link]