Elderly patients (>70) with high cholesterol levels have been systematically excluded from randomized studies on statins, despite their higher risk of cardiovascular events. Presented at AHA 2020 Scientific Sessions and published simultaneously in the Lancet, along comes this primary prevention study including patients between 70 and 100 years of age. The use of therapies to…
New European Guidelines for Dyslipidemia Management: What is New?
Reading clinical practice guidelines, except for specific consultation, is usually tedious. These guidelines are nor meant to be read as a textbook, or at least this is what most readers believe. But it looks like this reader’s perception has finally been acknowledged, hence “table 3” in the new European dyslipidemia guidelines, where the new recommendations,…
Egg Consumption and Mortality Due to Cardiovascular Events
According to this study recently published in prestigious journal JAMA, eating too much cholesterol or eggs (which have a high concentration of it in the yolk) is significantly associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality, with a typical dose/effect curve. According to the authors, this information should be considered for an…
AHA 2019 | Treat Stroke to Target: Post-Stroke Aggressive Therapy with Statins
Indicating statins to reach more aggressive LDL goals in patients that have suffered transient ischemic attack or ischemic stroke driven by atherosclerosis significantly reduces major cardiovascular events according to this study presented in the AHA 2019 scientific sessions simultaneously published in NEJM. The study was prematurely ended because of lack of funding, but its outcomes…
ESC 2019 | EVOPACS: Evolocumab to Reduce Cholesterol in Acute Coronary Syndromes
Eight weeks of treatment with evolocumab added to a regimen of high-intensity statins in patients with acute coronary syndrome reduced significantly LDL cholesterol levels and was safe, compared with statins + placebo, according to the EVOPACS study presented last Saturday at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2019 Scientific Sessions in Paris and simultaneously…
AHA 2018 | New Dyslipidemia Guidelines Support Non-Statin Therapy and Coronary Artery Calcium Screening
While the guidelines do not recommend a specific treatment target, they suggest additional therapy in high-risk patients with LDL 70 mg/dL or higher. These new guidelines from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) start recommending ezetimibe or PCSK9 inhibition in select high-risk patients and proposing noninvasive coronary artery calcium screening…
Strict LDL Monitoring Helps Reduce Plaque Volume
The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between temporal changes in coronary plaque volume and the intensity of lipid lowering treatments using coronary computed tomography (CTA). Coronary computed tomography has acceptable accuracy in terms of quantitative measurement on plaque volume, enough to identify changes in volume according to LDL levels. …
HOPE 3: Reducing LDL Improves Prognosis in Intermediate Risk Patients
In a large cohort of intermediate risk patients with no known CAD, treatment with low doses of statins in addition to an angiotensin receptor blocker and a diuretic, reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, compared to placebo. These are the main findings of the HOPE 3 trial (Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation) that randomized 12705 patients,…
JUPITER Subanalysis: Reduction of LDL Determines Clinical Impact of Rosuvastatin Therapy
Original Title: Cholesterol treatment targets and clinical outcomes: a JUPITER trial update. Presenter: Paul Ridker. The lower the LDL cholesterol levels, the less adverse cardiovascular events in men and women initially healthy, according to an analysis of the JUPITER trial. Findings could help inform about the optimal LDL goals in primary prevention. To explore the…