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Survey examined statin prescribing strategies in treating hyperlipidemia
CV risks should be taken into account before prescribing statins to treat hyperlipidemia, according to the results of a national survey.
The survey of 202 physicians (44.6% family medicine, 29.2% cardiology and 26.2% internal medicine) included six vignette-style questions involving patients without CHD and different baseline risks, for whom physicians may treat for hyperlipidemia, according to the researchers.
For all of the patients, the HDL level was 50 mg/dL and the triglyceride level was 150 mg/dL.
Researchers used the McNemar test to compare prescribing for vignettes 1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, and 5 vs. 6.
The first two vignettes involved two women with diabetes with different LDL levels (120 mg/dL vs. 88 mg/dL). A statin therapy was recommended more often to the patient with higher LDL levels (94% vs. 40.2%, respectively; P<.001).
The third and fourth vignettes involved low-risk patients with LDL levels of 180 mg/dL. Researchers found that more health care providers treated the 40-year-old man with controlled hypertension than the 50-year-old women (88.9% vs. 73.5%, respectively; P<.001).
The last two vignettes compared a 75-year-old man with an LDL level of 140 mg/dL and a 50-year-old woman with an LDL level of 145 mg/dL, both of whom used tobacco and had hypertension. Researchers found similar treatment rates (86.6% vs. 88.9%) with this group of questions.
“Our study suggests that physicians may not adequately consider a patient’s cardiovascular risk when prescribing statins in primary prevention,” researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.