[Guidelines for the management of dyslipidemia]

The AHA/ACC 2013 guideline on the treatment of blood cholesterol to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in adults contains major differences with the previous ESC/EAS 2011 guidelines and the remaining international guidelines, which has generated major controversies. The AHA/ACC document has developed a new model for estimating cardiovascular risk for primary prevention which is not comparable with the SCORE recommended in the European guidelines. This guideline does not establish a fixed target for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc). Instead, it identifies 4 major statin benefit groups at risk for the development ASCVD, who should receive low-, moderate-, and high-intensity statin therapy to reduce LCLc. In contrast, the European guidelines maintain LDLc as the main treatment target and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol as a secondary treatment target. The document recommends calculating cardiovascular risk for the overall treatment of patients with dyslipidemia according to 4 risk levels (low, moderate, high, and very high), establishes LDLc treatment targets, and recommends a statin-based therapeutic strategy and other, lipid-lowering strategies, aimed at achieving these targets. The American guidelines cannot be extrapolated to the European population. Target-based treatment, as recommended in the EAS/ESC guidelines, is the best strategy for Europe. In Spain, the Primary Care Guidelines of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (semFYC) and the Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians (SEMERGEN) are based on the European recommendations. Finally, the Spanish Society of Arteriosclerosis (SEA), SEMERGEN, semFYC and the Spanish Society of General Medicine (SEMG) are reaching a consensus on the approach and management of patients with atherogenic dyslipidemia in primary care.