The new cholesterol guidelines: What you need to know
The new cholesterol guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association are out! These guidelines — last updated in 2013 — have been highly anticipated by the cardiology and broader medical community. They have been approved by a variety of additional professional societies, including the American Diabetes Association. Thus, the majority of physicians are very likely to follow them. So, what exactly is new and what do you need to know?
It starts with a healthy lifestyle, with statins for those who need them
A healthy diet and regular physical activity are recommended for all age groups as the foundation to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD risk factors such as high cholesterol.
However, once there is atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (plaque in the arteries), the new guidelines recommend that high-intensity statin therapy or maximally tolerated statin therapy should be used, in addition to lifestyle modification, to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). For example, this recommendation applies to patients with a history of prior cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, or of procedures such as stenting. The goal is to lower LDL-C levels by 50% or more.
Cholesterol targets are back!
Much to the delight of physicians, concrete LDL-C targets have been reintroduced into this version of the guidelines. For individuals with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who are at very high risk of cardiac complications, d...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH Tags: Health Heart Health Source Type: blogs
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