Cholesterol management in geriatric patients: new guidelines

Pharmacists play an important role in the management of primary care disease states such as hypercholesterolemia. The 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines provide the pharmacist with pertinent treatment recommendations relevant to day-to-day clinical practice and geriatric care. This article reviews these new evidencebased guidelines for cholesterol management in general and for the elderly specifically. The new guidelines have implications for older adults remaining on or starting statin therapy. With this review, and based on the new guidelines, pharmacists will be informed on how to provide hyperlipidemia recommendations for the older adult. Monitoring of therapy, as well as adverse effects, will be reviewed, including differences among various practice settings.