Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2016 - The Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) has published an important update to its guidelines for the management of dyslipidemia - lipid metabolism disorders - that can cause cardiovascular disease. These disorders are very common, affect atherosclerosis-promoting lipids like cholesterol, and are a major target of widely used drugs like statins. The guidelines update evidence-based guidance for cardiologists and other clinicians regarding which patients will benefit from statin therapy. There is also new information on the use of health behavior modifications and non-statin medications to help doctors make the difficult decisions about when to use drugs to treat cholesterol and when other approaches are possible. The update is published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology .
Central to the new guidelines is the recommendation that decision-making should be shared between physician and patient. "As dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, these guidelines will allow appropriate risk assessment, treatment, and surveillance options of our at-risk population," explained Todd J. Anderson, MD, of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. "The overall goal of the process was to produce a document based on the best available evidence that would allow clinicians and patients to make collaborative treatment decisions. These guidelines are not absolute, but are meant to launch one-on-one discussion between practitioner and patient."
The revised guidelines reflect new clinical trial and epidemiologic evidence. They include important recommendations like:
The panel has strengthened its previous lifestyle advice. "Lifestyle interventions remain the cornerstone of chronic disease prevention, including cardiovascular disease," emphasized Dr. Anderson. "Data from the INTERHEART study indicate that, in addition to the traditional risk factors (abnormal lipids, hypertension, smoking, and diabetes), abdominal obesity, dietary patterns, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and psychosocial factors are modifiable risk factors for heart attacks worldwide in both sexes and at all ages."
Specifically, the panel recommends that:
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Canadian Journal of Cardiology