Are we aggressive enough in lowering cholesterol?
To date, 5 major randomized, placebo-controlled statin trials--the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study, West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study, Cholesterol and Recurrent Events trial, Long-term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease, and Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study--have convincingly shown that total mortality and major coronary events can be significantly reduced by lowering levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) with statin therapy. These results were achieved in a broad range of patients including those with and without a history of coronary artery disease and with elevated or average LDL-C levels. The results also support the large body of epidemiologic evidence demonstrating that the lower the cholesterol level, the lower the cardiovascular risk. Evidence now substantially supports the urgency of physicians to aggressively target the lowering of LDL-C levels for the primary and secondary prevention of coronary disease.
Waters
D D
DD
Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California 94110, USA. dwaters@medsfgh.ucsf.edu
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL