BACKGROUND:There is conflicting evidence as to whether achievement of cholesterol targets at the population level is dependent on the choice and cost of statin. AIM:To investigate the practice-level relationship between cholesterol quality indicators in patients with heart disease, stroke, and diabetes and prescribing of low-cost statins. DESIGN AND SETTING:Correlations and linear regression modelling of retrospective cross-sectional practice-level data with potential explanatory variables in 7909 (96.4%) general practices in England in 2008-2009. METHOD:Quality indicator data were obtained from the Information Centre and prescribing data from the NHS Business Authority. A 'cholesterol quality indicator' score was constructed by dividing the numbers of patients achieving the target for cholesterol control of ≤5 mmol/l in stroke, diabetes, and heart disease by the numbers on each register. A 'low-cost statin' ratio score was constructed by dividing the numbers of defined daily doses of simvastatin and pravastatin by the total numbers of defined daily doses of statins. RESULTS:Simvastatin accounted for 83.3% (standard deviation [SD] = 15.7%) of low-cost statins prescribed and atorvastatin accounted for 85.7% (SD = 14.8%) of high-cost statins prescribed. The mean cholesterol score was 73.7% (SD = 6.0%). Practices using a higher proportion of the low-cost statins were less successful in achieving cholesterol targets. An increase of 10% in the prescribing of low-cost statins was associated with a decrease of 0.46% in the cholesterol quality indicator score (95% confidence interval = -0.54% to -0.38%, P<0.001). CONCLUSION:Greater use of low-cost statins was associated with a small reduction in cholesterol control.