BMJ  2006;332:793 (1 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7544.793-a

Letter

Preventing coronary heart disease

Patients are people, not cases

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—Everyone knows the importance of seeing patients as people, not cases. But the idea seems to have made a less successful transfer in terms of risk reduction.

Lowering some factor by a small percentage in everyone—regardless of level of risk—requires seeing everyone as a disease waiting to happen.^{1 2} It requires people with no reason for concern to make unnecessary adjustments to their lives in yet another area. And it requires doctors to provide more warnings about potential problems, even as the time available for the truly sick becomes more limited.

New York, NY 10003, USA joanmcclusky@interlaceglobal.com

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Competing interests: None declared.

1. Jackson R, Lynch J, Harper S. Preventing coronary heart disease. BMJ 2006;332: 617-8. (18 March.)[Free Full Text]
2. Manuel DG, Lim J, Tanuseputro P, Anderson GM, Alter DA, Laupacis A, et al. Revisiting Rose: strategies for reducing coronary heart disease. BMJ 2006;332: 659-62. (18 March.)[Free Full Text]

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