Abstract
Background
Determinants of the real-world effectiveness of lipid-lowering therapy have been rarely assessed in an unselected observational coronary heart disease (CHD) community cohort over time.
Design
Randomly drawn patients (n = 605) from randomly drawn practices (n = 62) were retrospectively followed for a median of 3.6 years (1998-2002) on lipid-lowering therapy (98% statins).
Methods
Coronary heart disease population-averaged estimates and variances accounting for repeated measurements within patients were obtained using generalized estimating equations.
Results
Post-treatment low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) was 124 mg/dl in men and 141 mg/dl in women and was independently associated (all P<0.05) with pre-treatment LDL-C (+ 3.7 mg/dl per 10 mg/dl increment), female sex (+ 14.0 mg/dl), coronary bypass (-9.5 mg/dl), drug-treated diabetes mellitus (-6.8 mg/dl), and era 2002/2001 versus 1999/2000 (- 6.4 mg/dl) in age-adjusted multivariate analyses. Holding pre-treatment LDL-C constant post-treatment LDL-C was associated with pre-treatment Framingham CHD risk in men (- 13.9 mg/dl per doubling of risk), whereas LDL-C control in women resembled that in low-risk men. The likelihood of attaining LDL-C < 100 mg/dl was 0.28 in men and 0.17 in women and was likewise associated with the above factors.
Conclusion
Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol control remained low despite lipid-lowering therapy across a wide range of pre-treatment LDL-C and pre-treatment CHD risk. Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol control in women was inferior to that in men, a finding that warrants attention and clarification. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 12:37-45 © 2005 The European Society of Cardiology
Keywords
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