Myth 2: The new guidelines will lead to physicians unnecessarily prescribing you a statin.
Truth: These guidelines offer recommendations based on a new risk calculator developed to estimate your future risk for a heart attack or stroke. If your estimated risk falls in the top one-third of adults, the guidelines suggest consideration of statins. Of course, not everyone in the top third of risk should take a statin, because, as the guidelines point out, that number alone doesn't determine a specific treatment. Patients and their physicians or other healthcare providers determine individualized treatment together. The guidelines are simply a tool, based on the best evidence currently available, to help them make those decisions. It's estimated that approximately 30 million people are currently prescribed a statin. Using these guidelines, we estimate that about 32 million people will be encouraged to discuss the risks and benefits of statins with their physician. But at the end, our goal is to have more of the right people -- those who will benefit the most -- and fewer of the wrong people taking these medications.