A SENIOR doctor has called for researchers to publish their data on the benefits of widening the use of statins.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said the use of cholesterol-lowering statins should be extended to people with just a 10 per cent risk of developing heart disease.

But critics said key research has yet to be published and it was ‘no longer sufficient to make widespread extension of drug treatments on the basis of data that is not widely available for scrutiny’.

Dr David Wrigley, who represents Lancashire doctors in the British Medical Association, agreed the data should ‘definitely be published’, but added: “Statins are helpful for certain patients such as diabetics and those with heart disease.”