I’ll give the link its own place to live:
https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2015/202/11/crux-matter-did-abcs-catalyst-program-change-statin-use-australia
This is the paper in the Medical Journal of Australia showing that people reduced having their statins dispensed after the Catalyst show on ABC.
The first thing that really struck me was this:
“Statins are recommended nationally and internationally both for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in people at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and for secondary prevention in those with established cardiovascular disease.3,4 They are the most commonly prescribed medicines in Australia,5 used by over 30% of the population aged 50 years and older.”
30% of over 50s seems a hell of a lot to me. A third.
Perhaps poik is better at reading the stats stuff than I am, but I understand that the figures pulled are for concessional dispensings, because the numbers aren’t available for the people who pay full price.
“We restricted our analyses to people for whom we had a complete PBS dispensing history for the entire study period. As many commonly dispensed statins fall below the general copayment threshold ($36.90 at 1 January 2014), but above the concessional copayment threshold ($6.00), we included only long-term concessional beneficiaries (ie, individuals dispensed only medicines attracting a concessional copayment during the 5-year study period). Long-term concessional beneficiaries represent about 51% of all people who are dispensed a statin, and consist of older people, those on a low income and the sick and disabled”
Also interesting is a little figure slotted in towards the end:
“On average, 1.8% of statin users discontinued using statins each month before the Catalyst program aired”
I didn’t realize there was this amount of drift anyway, regardless of Catalyst.
Interesting, anyway. And I see there are more suggestions coming out recommending using risk assessments. From the ABC news item today:
“An analysis of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data published earlier this year by Australian Doctor showed no drop in statin prescribing rates.
The medical publication said dispensing of the top three statins held steady in the three months after the Catalyst program was aired and rates increased slightly from 1.4 million in November 2013 to 1.5 million in January 2014.
But some doctors strongly believe statins are being over-prescribed.
Harvard professor John Abramson has written a number of scientific papers raising concerns about the overuse of the cholesterol-lowering drugs.”
From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-15/patients-cut-back-on-statins-after-catalyst-story-research/6545026