Managing dyslipidemia in primary care with restricted access to lipid-modifying therapy

Many patients with dyslipidemia do not achieve goal low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The barriers to achieving goal include inadequate assessment of cardiovascular risk status, medication cost, formulary restrictions, patient lack of adherence, and inadequate counseling time. Removing barriers may improve goal attainment and reduce the risk for cardiovascular events.

To identify opportunities to improve dyslipidemia management in primary care by examining low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goal attainment in patients with unrestricted or restricted access to lipid-modifying therapy.

A total of 5936 adult patients from a primary care practice with a low-density lipoprotein measurement were categorized by coronary heart disease risk into 1 of 4 lipid-modifying therapy groups: unrestricted (fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, or simvastatin monotherapy); restricted (atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, or simvastatin/ezetimibe fixed-dose combination); other (lipid-modifying combination statin therapy or a nonstatin lipid-modifying therapy); and no lipid-modifying therapy. The primary outcome was low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goal attainment by lipid-modifying therapy group. Logistic regression identified associated demographic and clinical factors.

In this cohort, 78.1% of the patients achieved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goal levels. Overall goal attainment rates were lower in the high and very high coronary heart disease risk categories, at 52.6% and 31.6%, respectively. For patients at elevated coronary heart disease risk (high or very high), the rates of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goal attainment were 14 to 16 percentage points higher for patients receiving restricted lipid-modifying therapy compared with patients receiving unrestricted lipid-modifying therapy (high coronary heart disease risk: 68% vs 52%, respectively; very high coronary heart disease risk: 42% vs 28%, respectively). Increasing age, male sex, and use of restricted lipid-modifying therapy were significantly associated with improved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goal attainment. Of the 1298 patients who were not at low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goal, 54.1% were not receiving any lipid-modifying therapy. For each coronary heart disease risk category, there was a significantly higher percent utilization of unrestricted lipid-modifying therapy compared with restricted lipid-modifying therapy (P <.001).

A significant number of patients at elevated risk for coronary heart disease remain untreated or have low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels above target. Removing barriers to the use of restricted lipid-modifying agents in patients at risk for heart disease provides an opportunity to improve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels.