Continued education and programs are needed for the treatment of acute CVD events and also for primary and secondary prevention through treatment and control of health behaviors and risk factors. Dr. Jennifer Robinson, MD, MPH, an expert in cardiovascular disease from the University of Iowa College of Public Health recommends considering statins and statin therapy for preventing CVD events.
“Many will need treatment with a statin to reduce the risk of a cardiovascular event. Four groups of people have the most benefit from statin therapy – those who have had a heart attack, stroke or other blockage in an artery, and for those without clinical cardiovascular disease: those with high LDL-cholesterol (“bad”) 190 mg/dl or greater, those with diabetes aged 40-75 years with LDL-C 70-189 mg/dl, and those without diabetes and >=7.5% 10-year cardiovascular risk and LDL-C 70-189 mg/dl. Others may also benefit from statin therapy, which has an excellent margin of safety for most people.”
For more information on statins and stain therapy, check out the following recommendations by Dr. Robinson.
Synopsis: Stone NJ, Robinson JG, Lichtenstein AH, et al. Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Adults: Synopsis of the 2013 ACC/AHA Cholesterol Guideline. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2014; doi:10.7326/M14-0126.
Report: Stone N, Robinson J, Lichtenstein A, et al. 2013 ACC/AHA guideline on the treatment of blood cholesterol to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk in adults. Circulation. 2013;online ahead of print November 12, 2013:doi:10.1161/1101.cir.0000437738.0000463853.0000437737a.
Editorial: Robinson JG. Accumulating evidence for statins in primary prevention. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2013;10.1001/jama.2013.281355.
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