The importance of lowering total and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) in the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is so firmly established that it has,in only a short time, become part of everyday practice for all primary care health professionals.Lipids,of course,come in multiple forms,which include fatty acids,the different forms of cholesterol and triglycerides.Most practitioners have only a sketchy idea of what triglycerides are,what they do and how important they are.Few understand the intricacies of measurement, diagnosis and interpretation,and when – and how – to manage them.The story is complex and involves difficult biochemical and metabolic concepts,so we should begin at the beginning.
Triglycerides: Making Sense Of The Sometimes Forgotten Lipid Fraction
Tredaptive: a new option in lipid management
Blood cholesterol levels play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and the incidence of CVD is closely related to the concentration of the specific lipoproteins in the blood. In this article, we review the role of different lipoproteins and the mechanism of action and potential role of a new agent for lipid modification – Tredaptive.
Starting on a statin for primary prevention
Improving patient adherence to prescribed medication for cholesterol management
Statin therapy for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: an update (part 3)
Lipid Modification in Primary Prevention – Treatment not Target
The NICE lipid modification guideline, published in May this year, covered both primary and secondary prevention of CVD. This article will look briefly at the principles of this guideline in relation to primary prevention and then go further to highlight the key issues regarding statin prescribing for people established to be at high cardiovascular risk.
Measurement of baseline total cholesterol: new data from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database
Statin therapy for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: an update (part 2)
Lipid lowering as part of secondary prevention of CVD: doing it the nice way
All patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) should be offered drug treatment to reduce their cholesterol levels without waiting for the management of modifiable risk factors, recommends the latest guidance on lipid modification from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The much-anticipated guideline finally puts to bed the ‘5 and 3’ or ‘4 and 2’ debate over cholesterol levels for primary and secondary prevention. In this article, we review what the guidance says about lipid lowering in secondary prevention.
Familial hypercholesterolaemia: caring for the one in 500 patients affected
Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is the commonest genetic disorder in people of European and Japanese descent, affecting about 1 in 500 people. It is characterised by high levels of total and LDL cholesterol and is the most important clinical syndrome leading to premature coronary heart disease (CHD). Despite huge advances in unravelling its complex pathophysiology and the effectiveness of modern treatments, awareness of the syndrome and its consequences remains low and affected individuals are still overlooked and denied the potential benefits of treatment.