Treatment Guidelines for Managing Cholesterol Levels

Clinical trials for cholesterol-lowering therapies are a constant in medical research, but in 2018, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association determined that the publication of results from large clinical research trials was enough to warrant updating treatment guidelines to reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) by controlling cholesterol levels. In addition, there has been new research on the use of add-on therapies.Among the updates includes reconsidering the risk assessment for primary prevention. Previously, guidelines used Framingham risk scoring or Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE) risk assessment algorithms to estimate risk, both of which under or overestimate risk for patients. In 2013, it was recommended that clinicians engage in discussions with patients about risk.For these and other recommendations, the guidelines are available in the journals Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In this slideshow, we cover the (highlights.RELATED CONTENT:  6 Reasons Cholesterol Drug Guidelines Must Change

References:

Grundy SM, Stone NJ, Bailey AL, Beam C, et al. “2018 AHA/ACC/AACVPR/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/ADA/AGS/APhA/ASPC/NLA/PCNA Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines.” Circulation. 2018. DOI:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000625. This article has been co-published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Nov. 10, 2018, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2018.11.003