VIDEO: New guide discusses when to use nonstatin agents to reduce atherosclerotic CVD risk
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
An expert consensus decision pathway recently issued by the American College of Cardiology addresses lipid-lowering therapies that were developed after the publication of the ACC/American Heart Association cholesterol guidelines in 2018.
Speaking to Healio, Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, FACC, FAHA, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and immediate past president of the AHA, said the pathway will help clinicians better understand how to utilize nonstatin therapies “as an adjunct or in addition to statin therapies to optimally reduce risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
“We wanted to provide a simple, user-friendly guide for clinicians to understand when to use these newer medications, in whom and how,” Lloyd-Jones, who is the chair of the document’s writing committee, said. “When you look at this document, you’ll find very simple algorithms that are basically workflows and diagrams that can help you through the decision-making process about whether your patient needs medication or additional help to reduce their LDL cholesterol in order to prevent heart attacks and strokes.”