Statistics released to the JEP following a Freedom of Information request show that around 10,900 Islanders were prescribed statins last year and experts estimate a similar level of prescriptions will be made this year.
The data, which was released by the Social Security Department, also shows that the number of Islanders prescribed the cholesterol-busting drug increased by 1,930 between 2011 and 2015.
Hospital consultant cardiologist Andrew Mitchell said he expected prescriptions rates of statins to continue to rise.
High cholesterol is caused by a number of factors including people making too much of it naturally, a poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and smoking.
Last year the NHS watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, issued guidance – which is followed by Island doctors – encouraging GPs to prescribe statins to anyone at a ten per cent risk of having a heart attack in the next ten years. Statins are also prescribed to people who have already suffered a heart attack or stroke.
However, some doctors have voiced concerns over prescribing statins, claiming that only a minority of people who take the drug as a preventive measure live longer and that people were being needlessly exposed to side effects such as diabetes and muscle aches.
Dr Mitchell said he supported the use of statins in the right cases and added: ‘We don’t like people to take medicines unless it is necessary. GPs and ourselves in the Hospital will look at an individual’s risk factors, whether they are low, intermediate or high risk. We treat people in the high risk groups.
‘I would like to encourage everyone over the age of 40 to see their GP on a regular basis to have their blood, heart rhythm and cholesterol checked to see whether they fit into the high risk groups.’
GP Dr Nigel Stevens said that the pros and cons of statins were regularly reported on in the news, but that all doctors could do ‘is follow Nice guidelines’.
‘We have to follow the body of evidence,’ Dr Stevens, who operates from Windsor Medical Practice, based in the Lido Medical Centre, added. ‘It does change. In 100 years’ time it might be seen as witch-doctory but we can only do the best based on guidelines at the time.’
Dr Nigel Minihane, the head of Jersey’s Primary Care Body, which represents all Island GPs, said that the increase in prescriptions in statins in Jersey was not surprising given the Island’s growing ageing population.
‘When the Nice guidelines came out we said that you do realise that the drug bill for the Island will go up substantially,’ he added.
As part of the request, the JEP also asked for a break-down in the ages of Islanders prescribed statins and the reasons why the drug was prescribed but was informed that the cost in staff time to analyse the data would exceed the limits of the Freedom of Information Law.
