Footnotes

• Competing interests: RM has received lecture honoraria and travel grants from AstraZeneca, Solvay, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis, but none during the past three years. SEH is funded by the British Heart Foundation. NQ has received grant support and travel grants from the NHS NIHR, Royal College of General Practitioners and US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. HAWN has received research support from and has served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Schering Plough, Solvay Health Care and Pfizer. All authors were members of the NICE FH guideline group. The opinions expressed are not intended to represent those of any affiliated organisations.

• Funding: The National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care was commissioned and funded by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to develop the guideline. RM acknowledges the support of the Commonwealth Fund.

• The members of the Guideline Development Group were Leo Nherera, Elisabeth Shaw, Meeta Kathoria, Gill Ritchie, Vanessa Nunes, Dawn Davies, Philip Lee, Ian McDowell, Andrew Neil, Nadeem Qureshi, Philip Rowlands, Mary Seed, Helen Stracey, Margaret Thorogood and Melanie Watson. SEH was scientific adviser to the group, and RM was the group’s chairman.