Konstantinos Tziomalos, Asterios Karagiannis, Vasilios Athyros
Abstract
The recently published American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for the management of dyslipidemias have already sparked intense debate. Even though these guidelines appear to simplify treatment by recommending specific doses of specific statins instead of pursuing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol targets, several issues might limit their applicability outside US. Indeed, their implementation might lead to undertreatment of high-risk patients (e.g. many patients with type 2 diabetes melitus (T2DM), chronic kidney disease or atherogenic dyslipidemia) or the overtreatment of moderate- to low-risk patients (e.g. many patients without either T2DM or established cardiovascular disease). Therefore, the use of the European Society of Cardiology/European Atherosclerosis Society guidelines appears more appropriate for Europe.
Keywords: dyslipidemia, guidelines, statins, type 2 diabetes mellitus, primary prevention, chronic kidney disease, atherogenic dyslipidemia