LDL-cholesterol levels and lipid lowering therapy in secondary prevention. Baseline data from the BRING-UP...

To narrow the gap between guidelines recommendation for secondary cardiovascular prevention and clinical practice, we designed a national project based on educational programs and patient data collection.

BRING-UP Prevention is an observational, prospective, multicentre study on patients with an atherothrombotic event enrolled in 2 phases: an educational intervention followed by two 3-months data collection, followed by 6 and 12-month follow-up, when the primary, secondary and exploratory endpoints will be evaluated. Clinical characteristics, treatments and target achievement for LDL cholesterol and other modifiable risk factors at baseline are reported in this manuscript.

From September 2023 to February 2024, 189 cardiology centers included 4790 patients, 2500 hospitalized, and 2290 managed as outpatients. Of the 4790 patients, 98 % had CAD, 6.1 % CVD, and 6.9 % PAD. Mean age was 67 ± 11 years, 20 % were females. Patients with LDL-C levels <55 mg/dL were 32.6 %. Patients at target for blood pressure were 39.2 %. Diabetic patients were 27.5 %, HbA1c <7 % was reported in 43.5 % of them. Statins prescription increased from 69 % at entry to 96 % at discharge/end of visit. In 74.5 % of patients, statins were prescribed in combination with ezetimibe. PCSK9-i or inclisiran were prescribed in a low rate of patients.

These data show that a low percentage of patients was at goal for LDL-C level and blood pressure. The 6-month follow-up visit will allow us to evaluate the changes in modifiable risk factors.