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Prevalence of high-risk cardiovascular patients with therapy-resistant hypercholesterolemia

Karel Kostev1, Klaus G Parhofer2, Franz-Werner Dippel3

  • 1Department of Epidemiology, IMS Health, Frankfurt am Main.

Cardiovascular Endocrinology
|May 26, 2017
PubMed

Insights

A substantial number of high-risk cardiovascular patients in Germany have therapy-resistant hypercholesterolemia. Many patients do not achieve target low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels despite intensive lipid-lowering treatments.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Epidemiology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Hypercholesterolemia is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
  • Effective management is crucial, especially for high-risk individuals.
  • Current data on therapy resistance in Germany is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence of therapy-resistant hypercholesterolemia in high-risk cardiovascular patients in Germany.
  • To assess the proportion of patients not reaching target LDL-C levels despite optimal lipid-lowering therapy.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of over 2.6 million patient records from the IMS Disease Analyzer database.
  • Inclusion of high-risk cardiovascular patients with hypercholesterolemia receiving statin monotherapy or combination therapy.
  • Selection of patients with suboptimal LDL-C control despite ≥12 months of optimal medication supply (MPR ≥80%).

Main Results:

  • Identified 602,133 high-risk patients on optimal lipid-lowering therapy for ≥12 months.
  • 79,848 patients (13.3%) did not reach the target LDL-C level (<70 mg/dl).
  • Of these, 12,808 patients had documented LDL-C levels of ≥130 mg/dl.

Conclusions:

  • The prevalence of therapy-resistant hypercholesterolemia is substantial among high-risk cardiovascular patients in Germany.
  • A significant portion of patients require alternative or additional treatment strategies to achieve LDL-C goals.
Abstract

Keywords:
epidemiologyhigh-risk cardiovascular patientshypercholesterolemialipid-modifying therapytherapy refractory

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