Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Analysis

The true cost of pharmacological disease prevention

BMJ 2011; 342 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d2175 (Published 19 April 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;342:d2175

Rapid Response:

Re:What then is the true measure of preventive effect ?

Sam Lewis has produced impressive data from his practice in relation
to statin prescription. It certainly raises fundamental questions about
the applicability of RCTs to the real world (including Pembrokeshire).

What was missing from the data though was the mean age that patients
were started on statin therapy.

Given that the risk of cardiac events and stroke increases with age,
such data would be useful to know.

Competing interests: No competing interests

27 April 2011
Richard Bartley
Physiotherapist
NHS