Just how much does it cost our healthcare system when people don’t take needed medicines to reduce cardiovascular risk? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Not taking medicines to lower cholesterol when you clearly need them increases your risk for heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events. Yet a study by Caleb Alexander, a drug safety and efficacy expert at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, shows that only a quarter of people who were eligible for these medicines but hadn’t yet had an event were taking them.

Alexander: We also examined how much we could reduce heart attacks and strokes and other serious heart problems or cardiovascular problems if we treated according to guidelines and we found that there would be whopping reductions in these sorts of events. 21 to 27% fewer heart attacks, strokes and other serious problems, which would save 10s of billions of dollars a year. This is one of many studies showing significant gaps between guideline recommended care and what actually happens in clinical practice.   :33

Alexander says these medicines offer huge benefits in those who need them. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.