Cardiologia Croatica, Vol. 8 No. 12, 2013.
Professional paper
New doses — new treatment options
Jasna Meško
; Krka, d. d., Novo mesto, Slovenia
Sanja Brus
; Krka, d. d., Novo mesto, Slovenia
Mateja Grošelj
; Krka, d. d., Novo mesto, Slovenia
Breda Barbič-Žagar
orcid.org/0000-0002-1173-7361
; Krka, d. d., Novo mesto, Slovenia
Abstract
Dyslipidemia is one of the most important and common modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). There are many different types of lipid lowering medicines, but till this date statins have remained the only medicines proven to reduce cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in patients with and without established CVD. This is why they have become the mainstay of therapeutic guidelines. In recent years, guidelines for the management of dyslipidemia and on CVD prevention have mandated even lower target lipid levels. These were accepted based on the results from clinical studies, including the results of meta-analyses, which demonstrated that further lowering of LDL cholesterol produced additional benefits, without new or unexpected safety issues. Moreover, clinical studies have shown that even a small reduction of LDL cholesterol has a significant clinical effect and that every 1% reduction in the LDL cholesterol level reduces the relative risk for major coronary heart disease events by approximately 1%. Despite the known benefits of reaching target lipid levels, the majority of patients, especially in secondary prevention, are not reaching them. Statins are usually prescribed at lower doses and often not up-titrated to achieve the therapeutic goals. Having a complete range of doses can be one of the approaches to improve the success rate in reaching target lipid levels in the management of hyperlipidemia. It could help improve clinical outcomes and provide maximum benefits of statin treatment for the patients.
Keywords
LDL cholesterol; guidelines; target lipid levels; statins; cardiovascular risk
Hrčak ID:
112599
URI
Publication date:
17.12.2013.
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