Thanks again, gingernut. That's very helpful. I appreciated the unbiased advice, as a I believe that GP's get extra funding for putting folk on preventative programmes, and am concerned this may not be in my best interests.
Unfortunately, my GP told me, in his own words, "You are going to have a heart attack". After an exercise ECG last year, my cardiologist said "You are not going to have a heart attack".
Looking at the 'Qrisk Misterblue dropping dead Stakes' starting prices, I calculate
Not having heart attack, 1-9 fav. 9-1 Bar.
It seems if we take 100 folk, 10 will have an event in 10 years. If we take statins, this drops to 7 having an event, ie we've saved only 3. In addition 2 will have unpleasant side-effects including renal failure. On balance, that leaves 1 in 100 better off, for a total consumption of 365,020 tablets (including leap years).
Because of the methodology, I can see that QRisk does not take into account individual's fitness levels (nor did my GP) and I am pretty active. Any idea how that would influence things?
I think I intend to recheck my cholesterol in about 6 months, and decide then. I am not comfortable with basing a lifetime on medication on a single blood sample.
Thanks again for taking the time, gingernut.