[A practitioner's perspective of the latest lipid guidelines]

The latest ESC recommendations propose several interesting new concepts for the practitioner. The recommendations distinguish between the «apparently healthy» patient and the patient at specific cardiovascular risk (diabetes, renal failure, and familial hypercholesterolemia). New risk calculation tools are proposed (SCORE2 and SCORE2-OP). The proposed LDL-C targets are specific to each group, as a general rule, < 1.8 mmol/l for individuals at high risk and < 1.4 mmol/l for individuals at very high risk. Presence of risk modifiers, comorbidities and patient preferences modulates therapeutic approach which is usually based on optimizing lifestyle and statin medication when necessary.