Footnotes

• Linked article 221093.

• Competing interests JH-C is professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Nottingham and co-director of QResearch^®—a not-for-profit organisation which is a joint partnership between the University of Nottingham and EMIS (a leading commercial supplier of IT for 60% of general practices in the UK). JH-C is also director of ClinRisk Ltd which produces open and closed source software to ensure the reliable and updatable implementation of clinical risk algorithms within clinical computer systems to help improve patient care. CC is associate professor of medical statistics at the University of Nottingham and a consultant statistician for ClinRisk Ltd. JR and PB have received no financial support for undertaking this work. JR and PB were previously members of the NICE Guideline Development Group for Lipid Modification of which JR was chair. This work and any views expressed within it are solely those of the co-authors and not of any affiliated bodies or organisations. There are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.