Potential impact on cardiovascular public health of over-the-counter statin availability

The American Journal of Cardiology
Eric P BrassJeffrey M Melin

Abstract

Over-the-counter (OTC) statin availability has been hypothesized to represent a strategy for treating consumers at moderate risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) who are currently not receiving drug therapy. The viability of this strategy has been questioned, particularly with respect to the public health benefit that can be obtained in an unsupervised treatment environment. The previously reported Consumer Use Study of Over-the-Counter Lovastatin (CUSTOM) examined consumer behavior in a simulated OTC setting in which 20 mg lovastatin could be purchased. Framingham CHD risk scores were calculated for 981 self-selected consumers who used OTC lovastatin in CUSTOM. Overall, this group had a median 10-year CHD risk of 10%, but with significant numbers of consumers with estimated risks of <5% and >20%. According to the risk profile of CUSTOM consumers, the use of 20 mg lovastatin for 10 years would be expected to prevent approximately 33,100 CHD events per 1 million users. This represents a 10-year number needed to treat of 30 consumers. This optimal benefit may be reduced because some higher risk consumers in CUSTOM used lovastatin rather than appropriate, more aggressive supervised care. On the basis of the frequencies of diversion...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 21, 2008·The New England Journal of Medicine·Mary E Tinetti
Mar 11, 2008·The Journal of Clinical Hypertension·Thomas G Pickering
Feb 27, 2009·American Journal of Health-system Pharmacy : AJHP : Official Journal of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists·UNKNOWN American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Jan 9, 2007·The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition·Maret G Traber

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