How one TV story could be responsible for 1500 heart attacks.

More than 60,000 Australians cut back on or stopped taking cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins after a program questioning their effectiveness aired on Australian TV, researchers have estimated.

University of Sydney researchers found an immediate impact after the science program Catalyst aired on the ABC in October 2013.

Researchers looked at the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medication records of 191,000 people and found 14,000 fewer people dispensing statins per week than expected.

Their work was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Researchers said an estimated 60,897 fewer people filled their statins prescriptions in the eight months following the Catalyst broadcast.

They said this could result "in between 1522 and 2900 preventable, and potentially fatal, heart attacks and strokes".

The Catalyst program examined the importance of cholesterol in cardiovascular disease and the appropriate use of statin medication.

A spokesman for the ABC said the network acknowledged problems with the program Heart of the Matter and removed it from iview.

"The ABC notes that the Medical Journal report acknowledges that the use and overuse of statins is a legitimate public health policy issue," he said.

"As was stated in the program and restated on the Catalyst website, viewers should not make any changes to their prescribed regimen of medications without seeking appropriate medical advice."

Lead author Andrea Schaffer, from the University of Sydney's Faculty of Pharmacy, said some patients at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, such as those taking medication for diabetes, stopped taking statins.

"We found even in this group [who were dispensed diabetes medications], who were known to be at high risk of cardiovascular disease, there was a reduction in statin use in this group," she said.

Debate over appropriate use of statins

The National Prescribing Service said evidence from a large review of clinical trials in people at high risk had shown statin medicines could substantially lower the chance of having a major cardiovascular event, on average by about 20 per cent.

They said statins could help prevent heart attacks and strokes in people who had already had one and were at high risk of another.

But there has been debate about whether it is appropriate to use the medications in healthy people with low risk of a heart attack or stroke.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) recently recommended patients talk to their doctors about whether statins are appropriate.

The RACGP said doctors should not commence therapy for high cholesterol or high blood pressure without assessing the absolute risk of a cardiovascular event like a heart attack or stroke.

The American Heart Association said taking a statin was now recommended for:

• Anyone who has cardiovascular disease, including angina, a previous heart attack or stroke, or other related condition
• Anyone with a very high level of harmful LDL cholesterol
• Anyone with diabetes between the ages of 40 and 75 years
• Anyone with a greater than 7.5 per cent chance of having a heart attack or stroke or developing other forms of cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years.

Statins 'overused' in low risk population

An analysis of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data published earlier this year by Australian Doctor showed no drop in statin prescribing rates.

The medical publication said dispensing of the top three statins held steady in the three months after the Catalyst program was aired and rates increased slightly from 1.4 million in November 2013 to 1.5 million in January 2014.

But some doctors strongly believe statins are being over-prescribed.

Harvard professor John Abramson has written a number of scientific papers raising concerns about the overuse of the cholesterol-lowering drugs.

He raised queries about the latest research in the Medical Journal of Australia and said the risk level of those who discontinued the statin medication was not known.

"By the article's own admission statins are overused in what the Australian guidelines call a low risk population - less than 10 per cent five-year risk," he said.

"The article's assertion that the discontinuations could result in between 1,522 and 2,900 preventable, and potentially fatal, major vascular events is based on false premises."

This post originally appeared on the ABC and was republished here with full permission. 

© 2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Read the ABC Disclaimer here.