A UK expert group has recommended that cholesterol-lowering drugs be prescribed for a much wider group of patients.

Currently, only people with a 20 per cent or greater of developing heart disease or having strokes in the following 10 years are offered statin drugs.

Now, new draft guidelines for doctors from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommend offering statins to people who have a 10 per cent or greater 10-year risk of developing cardiovascular disease(CVD).

It's estimated that around 250,000 people in Ireland are prescribed statin drugs to lower their cholesterol levels and help prevent heart problems.

NICE recommends that a specific statin drug - atorvastatin - should be used for both the prevention and treatment of CVD.

As a result of this drug coming off-patent and through the Government's recently-introduced reference pricing and generic substitution rules, atorvastatin is now much cheaper than it used to be.

While there has been some public debate about the effectiveness of statins and their side-effects, the new recommendations stem from the view that the drugs are relatively safe and can be effective.

Some studies have shown that even patients at low risk of heart disease or stroke can benefit from statins.

GPs should estimate the level of risk among their patients using the QRISK2 assessment tool and measurements including whether or not they smoke, their cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and body mass index. The calculator then provides a percentage risk of developing CVD in the next 10 years.

NICE had previously recommended the US Framingham risk tool before withdrawing advice about which risk assessment tool to use in February 2010. New evidence has suggested that QRISK2 is a more accurate CVD risk tool particularly among ethnic populations.

Patients with type 2 diabetes should, however, have their risk assessed using the UKPDS risk tool.

NICE recommends that GPs start statin treatment for the primary prevention of CVD with atorvastatin 20 mg. Patients with established CVD, type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes should be offered a higher strength 80mg dose of atorvastatin.

Professor Mark Baker, Director of the Centre for Clinical Practice at NICE said: "Smoking, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol levels are big causes of cardiovascular disease, especially in people with more than one of the factors. But the risk is measurable and we can substantially reduce someone's chance of a heart attack, angina, stroke and the other symptoms of cardiovascular disease by tackling the risk factors.

"People should be encouraged to address any lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking too much or eating unhealthily. We also recommend that statins are now offered to many more people - the effectiveness of these medicines is now well proven and their cost has fallen.

"We now want to hear views on this draft guidance which recommends that people with a 10 per cent risk of developing CVD within 10 years are offered statins. Doctors will need to make a judgment about the risks to people who have a less than 10 per cent risk of developing CVD and advise them appropriately.

"As well as taking statins, people with raised cholesterol levels and high blood pressure should reduce the amount of foods containing saturated fat they eat, they should exercise more and control their blood glucose levels by reducing their intake of sugar and by losing weight. They should also stop smoking."

Registered stakeholders, such as professional and government organisations, patient and carer groups, and companies, have until the 26 March 2014 to comment on the draft guidance.