Preventing coronary heart disease -- Jackson et al. 332 (7542): 617 -- BMJ

Preventing coronary heart disease -- Jackson et al. 332 (7542): 617 -- BMJ: "In this issue (p 659) Manuel and colleagues report how they estimated the effectiveness of three strategies to lower blood cholesterol concentrations in Canadians adults.1 A 'population' strategy assumed that blood cholesterol could be lowered by 2% in the whole population and deaths from coronary heart disease by 2.7%. The two other strategies were patient based, assuming that prescribing statins to subgroups of people at high risk of coronary heart disease would reduce their risk by 27%. A 'single risk factor' strategy targeted patients with blood cholesterol levels greater than 6.2 mmol/l and a 'baseline risk' strategy targeted those with a baseline risk of cardiovascular disease greater than 15% over five years, irrespective of their blood cholesterol levels. "