[Dietetic and pharmacologic treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Study of 32 patients over 14 months]

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dietetic-behavioural and pharmacological treatment on 32 patients with high level hypercholesterolemia (LDL-c greater than 160 mg/dl) over 14 months. Clinical and laboratory tests were performed at time 0 (enrollment), at time 1 (after 2 months dietetic-behavioural treatment only), at time 2 and time 3 (after 6 and 12 months respectively of combined dietetic-behavioural and pharmacological treatment). The dietetic-behavioural treatment consist of reduced intake of saturated fatty acids, cholesterol and rapidly absorbed glycid; increased intake of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber; reduced overall calorie intake. The patients were also advised to take light daily exercise. The pharmacological treatment (sinivastatin 20 mg/die) was given to patients whose total cholesterol levels were over 250 mg/dl after 60 days of dietetic-behavioural only treatment and then continued for the whole study. The result showed an average reduction of 20% (p less than 0.01) in LDL-c in all patients after dietetic-behavioural only treatment and a further 20% (p less than 0.01) reduction after 12 months of combined treatment. There was therefore confirmation of the validity of dietetic-behavioural and pharmacological treatment during our study.