Cross sectional survey of effectiveness of lipid lowering drugs in reducing serum cholesterol concentration in patients in 17 general practices

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Abstract
What is already known on this topic What is already known on this topic Statins in patients with coronary heart disease help reduce further cardiovascular events and improve survival This seems to be a class effect of statins, although there may be important differences in effectiveness between them Less than half of patients in the community who take lipid lowering drugs achieve target serum cholesterol values What this study adds What this study adds Statins vary in their ability to lower serum cholesterol concentration, with atorvastatin and simvastatin achieving the best results The percentage reductions agreed with those found in randomised controlled trials Since the initial serum cholesterol concentrations were higher than in trials, absolute risk reductions in primary care patients may be greater than thought Target values of ≤5 mmol/l may be unrealistic even for patients on the most efficacious drugs, because the initial mean cholesterol values of primary care patients are higher than those of patients in trials What is already known on this topic What is already known on this topic Statins in patients with coronary heart disease help reduce further cardiovascular events and improve survival This seems to be a class effect of statins, although there may be important differences in effectiveness between them Less than half of patients in the community who take lipid lowering drugs achieve target serum cholesterol values What this study adds What this study adds Statins vary in their ability to lower serum cholesterol concentration, with atorvastatin and simvastatin achieving the best results The percentage reductions agreed with those found in randomised controlled trials Since the initial serum cholesterol concentrations were higher than in trials, absolute risk reductions in primary care patients may be greater than thought Target values of ≤5 mmol/l may be unrealistic even for patients on the most efficacious drugs, because the initial mean cholesterol values of primary care patients are higher than those of patients in trials