Footnotes

• Funding: This work was undertaken by National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care which received funding from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

• Competing interests: Dr Skinner was the clinical advisor for the NICE guideline for secondary prevention after MI and both Dr Skinner and Dr Minhas were members of the Guideline Development Group. During the last five years, Dr Skinner has received travel grants to attend educational meetings from Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi Synthelabo/Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals, with none during the last two years. During the last 12 months Dr Minhas has not received any honoraria and travel grants and over the preceding four years has received honoraria and travel grants from several pharmaceutical companies that manufacture cardiovascular therapies.

• The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Institute.