Correction and transparency of BNF risk charts

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2330

Published 9 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2330
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2330

Letters

Assessing cardiovascular risk

Correction and transparency of BNF risk charts

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Joint British Societies’ (JBS) charts use a "trafficlights" system to emphasise different categories of cardiovascularrisk.¹ They were published in 2005 in conjunction with the societies’guidelines² and are reproduced biannually in the BNF.

We recently observed that the green (<10% risk) area wasmissing from the charts for non-diabetic male non-smokers aged50-59, and to a minor degree in the charts for similarly agednon-diabetic male smokers, and older non-diabetic male non-smokers.The charts were inaccurately reproduced in this form for overthree years. We estimate that 16% of the 2.5 million non-smokingmen aged 50-59 in the UK would be wrongly categorised into thehigher (10-20%) risk category.³ Patients may have been causedunnecessary concern, and lifestyle advice may have differedfor low and moderate risk patients. Also, lower (10%) drug treatmentthresholds are a future possibility, given the increasing evidencefor treating lower risk . . . [Full text of this article]

Rupert A Payne, lecturer in clinical pharmacology¹, David J Webb, professor of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics¹, Simon R J Maxwell, senior lecturer in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics²

¹ Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, Edinburgh EH16 4TJ, ² Clinical Pharmacology Unit, University of Edinburgh, Clinical Research Centre, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU

r.payne@ed.ac.uk