This undated photo provided by by Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows Atorvastatin Calcium tablets, a generic form of Lipitor, which is being sold under a deal with Pfizer. The nation’s first new guidelines in a decade for preventing heart attacks and strokes call for twice as many Americans – one-third of all adults – to consider taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs such as this or Zocor or Crestor. The guidelines, issued Tuesday,by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, are a big change. They use a new formula for estimating someone’s risk that includes many factors besides cholesterol, the main focus now.By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Chief Medical Writer
For decades, if you asked your doctor what your odds were of suffering a heart attack, the answer would turn on a number: your cholesterol level.
Now the nation’s first new heart disease prevention guidelines in a decade take a very different approach, focusing more broadly on risk and moving away from specific targets for cholesterol.
The guidance offers doctors a new formula for estimating risk that includes age, gender, race and factors such as whether someone smokes.