ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2020
Prescription of suboptimal statin treatment regimens: a retrospective cohort study of trends and variation in English primary care.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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15 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- preSCRIPT: Large-scale prescription search and annotation engine for pharmacogenomic studies.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2026Article
- Adiposity, metabolites and endometrial cancer risk: inference from combinations of Mendelian randomization and observational analyses.BMC cancer · 2025Observational
- The incidence of anti-HMGCR immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy: an Australian and UK retrospective multi-site cohort study.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- A Retrospective Audit of Statin Prescription Practices in Diabetic Patients With Cardiovascular Risk.Cureus · 2025Article
- Socioeconomic status and prescribing of ADHD medications: a study of ICB-level data in England.BMJ mental health · 2025Observational
- Statin Utilization for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Patients Developing First ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction: A Malaysian Retrospective Cohort Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- A retrospective observational study of certain interactions with simvastatin 40 mg in an acute hospital in England.The British journal of cardiology · 2024Article
- How to Use Statins in Secondary Prevention of Atherosclerotic Diseases: from the Beneficial Early Initiation to the Potentially Unfavorable Discontinuation.Cardiovascular drugs and therapy · 2023Review
- Identifying Patterns of Clinical Interest in Clinicians' Treatment Preferences: Hypothesis-free Data Science Approach to Prioritizing Prescribing Outliers for Clinical Review.JMIR medical informatics · 2022Article
- Effects of general and central adiposity on circulating lipoprotein, lipid, and metabolite levels in UK Biobank: A multivariable Mendelian randomization study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2022Article
- Variation in statin prescription among veterans with HIV and known atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.American heart journal · 2022Article
- Article
- Ethnic differences in guideline-indicated statin initiation for people with type 2 diabetes in UK primary care, 2006-2019: A cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2021 · on this mapObservational
- Equity, a common goal for primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSince 2014 English national guidance recommends 'high-intensity' statins, reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by ≥40%.
aimTo describe trends and variation in low-/medium-intensity statin prescribing and assess the feasibility of rapid prescribing behaviour change. DESIGN AND
settingA retrospective cohort study using OpenPrescribing data from all 8142 standard NHS general practices in England from August 2010 to March 2019.
methodStatins were categorised as high- or low-/medium-intensity using two different thresholds, and the proportion prescribed below these thresholds was calculated. The authors plotted trends and geographical variation, carried out mixed-effects logistic regression to identify practice characteristics associated with breaching of guidance, and used indicator saturation to identify sudden prescribing changes.
resultsThe proportion of statins prescribed below the recommended 40% LDL-lowering threshold has decreased gradually from 80% in 2011/2012 to 45% in 2019; the proportion below a pragmatic 37% threshold decreased from 30% to 18% in 2019. Guidance from 2014 had minimal impact on trends. Wide variation was found between practices (interdecile ranges 20% to 85% and 10% to 30% respectively in 2018). Regression identified no strong associations with breaching of guidance. Indicator saturation identified several practices exhibiting sudden changes towards greater guideline compliance.
conclusionBreaches of guidance on choice of statin remain common, with substantial variation between practices. Some have implemented rapid change, indicating the feasibility of rapid prescribing behaviour change. This article discusses the potential for a national strategic approach, using data and evidence to optimise care, including targeted education alongside audit and feedback to outliers through services such as OpenPrescribing.
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