A woman, 31, went to her doctor for a routine checkup in May. Her lab report showed cholesterol levels outside the normal range (LDL: 117 milligrams per decilitre of blood (mg/dL); TG: 255 mg/dL; HDL: 37 mg/dL). She smokes around five cigarettes a day. Her doctor prescribed her a statin, a drug that acts to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood, for six months. After that, they would retest her blood.
Was the doctor right?
India is in the middle of a statin over-prescription and under-prescription crisis. Rich, urban folks—the ones who can afford private hospitals in big cities—are being oversold statins.