Statin use prior to first myocardial infarction in contemporary patients: Inefficient and not gender equitable

Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists Position Paper 'Gender discrepancy: time to implement gender-based clinical management'

It has been well assessed that women have been widely under-represented in cardiovascular clinical trials. Moreover, a significant discrepancy in pharmacological and interventional strategies has been reported. Therefore, poor outcomes and more significant mortality have been shown in many diseases. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic differences in drug metabolism have also been described so that effectiveness could be different according to sex. However, awareness about the gender gap remains too scarce. Consequently, gender-specific guidelines are lacking, and the need for a sex-specific approach has become more evident in the last few years. This paper aims to evaluate different therapeutic approaches to managing the most common women's diseases.

Gender differences in cardiovascular risk, treatment, and outcomes: a post hoc analysis from the REWIND trial

Objectives. To assess whether the use of cardioprotective therapies for type 2 diabetes varies by gender and whether the risk of cardiovascular events is higher in women versus men in the REWIND trial, including an international type 2 diabetes patient population with a wide range of baseline risk. Design. Gender differences in baseline characteristics, cardioprotective therapy, and the achieved clinical targets at baseline and two years were analyzed. Hazards for cardiovascular outcomes (fatal/nonfatal stroke, fatal/nonfatal myocardial infarction, cardiovascular death, all-cause mortality, and heart failure hospitalization), in women versus men were analyzed using two Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for randomized treatment and key baseline characteristics respectively. Time-to-event analyses were performed in subgroups with or without history of cardiovascular disease using Cox proportional hazards models that included gender, subgroup, randomized treatment, and gender-by-subgroup interactions. Results. Of 9901 participants, 46.3% were women. Significantly fewer women than men had a cardiovascular disease history. Although most women met treatment targets for blood pressure (96.7%) and lipids (72.8%), fewer women than men met the target for cardioprotective therapies at baseline and after two years, particularly those with prior cardiovascular disease, who used less renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors, statins, and aspirin than men. Despite these differences, women had lower hazards than men for all outcomes except stroke. No significant gender and cardiovascular disease history interactions were identified for cardiovascular outcomes. Conclusions. In REWIND, most women met clinically relevant treatment targets, but in lower proportions than men. Women had a lower risk for all cardiovascular outcomes except stroke. Clinical trials.gov registration number: NCT01394952.

Risk of Recurrent Coronary Events in Patients With Familial Hypercholesterolemia; A 10-Years Prospective Study

Background and Aim: Real world evidence on long term treatment of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is important. We studied the effects of intensive lipid lowering medication (LLM) and optimized lifestyle in the study TTTFH–Treat To Target FH.

Materials and Methods: Adults with a first known total cholesterol of mean (95% CI) 9.8 mmol/L (9.5, 10.1) were included consecutively in their routine consultation during 2006. Of the patients 86.4% had a pathogenic FH-mutation and the remaining were clinically diagnosed. We included 357 patients and 279 met for follow-up after median 10.0 (min 8.1, max 12.8) years.

Results: Mean (95% CI) low density lipoprotein (LDL-C) was reduced from 3.9 (3.8, 4.1) to 3.0 (2.9, 3.2). More men than women used high intensity statin treatment, 85.2 and 60.8%, respectively. Women (n = 129) had higher LDL-C; 3.3 mmol/L (3.0, 3.5), than men; (n = 144) 2.8 mmol/L (2.6, 3.0), p = 0.004. Add-on PCSK9 inhibitors (n = 25) reduced mean LDL-C to 2.0 (1.4, 2.6) mmol/L. At enrollment 57 patients (20.4%) had established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), and 46 (80.4%) of them experienced a new event during the study period. Similarly, 222 (79.6%) patients had no detectable ASCVD at enrollment, and 29 of them (13.1%) experienced a first-time event during the study period.

Conclusion: A mean LDL-C of 3.0 mmol/L was achievable in FH, treated intensively at a specialized clinic with few users of PCSK9 inhibitors. LDL-C was higher (0.5 mmol/L) in women than in men. In patients with ASCVD at enrollment, most (80.7%) experienced a new ASCVD event in the study period. The FH patients in primary prevention had more moderate CV risk, 13% in ten years.

Association between lipid fractions and age of first myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVE

Dyslipidemia is a major cause of early coronary heart disease (CHD). Low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), remnant cholesterol (remnant-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) have all been shown to be associated with risk of CHD. We aimed to compare the association of these lipid fractions with age at first myocardial infarction(MI). Design. Multicenter study of consecutive patients hospitalized with a first MI. Linear regression models were used to assess the independent association of LDL-C, remnant-C and HDL-C with age at first MI. Results. The study included 1744 patients. In univariate analyses, LDL-C, remnant-C, and HDL-C were all significantly associated with age at first MI. However, in multivariate analyses only LDL-C [-2.5 years (95%CI: -3.1 to -1.8) per 1 SD increase] and to a lesser extent remnant-C [-0.9 years (95% CI: -1.5 to -0.3)] continued to be associated with age of MI, while HDL-C [0.5 years (95%CI: -0.2 to 1.2)] was not. Conclusions. LDL-C is the lipid fraction strongest associated with younger age of presentation of first MI. These results support the importance of controlling and treating LDL-C in prevention of premature MI.

Prior Use of Medication for Primary Prevention in Patients with Coronary Syndrome

Background: Cardiovascular disease, especially coronary disease, represents one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality. Objective: To determine the drug prescription profile for primary cardiovascular prevention prior to a first acute coronary syndrome event. Methods: Cross-sectional study. We included adult patients of any sex affiliated with one healthcare insurer of the Colombian Health System, with a diagnosis of a first episode of acute coronary syndrome that occurred during the period of 2015 to 2016. Sociodemographic, clinical and pharmacological variables were evaluated from clinical records. The cardiovascular risk score prior to the event was calculated, and the need for the use of statins and aspirin in primary prevention was defined according to the recommendations of clinical practice guidelines. Results: Clinical records of 322 patients were reviewed with mean age of 61.9 ± 10.8 years, and 77.3% were men. The most frequent comorbidities were dyslipidemia (64.3%), arterial hypertension (62.7%) and diabetes mellitus (30.1%); 22% of the patients were obese, and 33.5% were smokers. The cardiovascular risk score was calculated in 211 patients (65.5%) who had the necessary variables complete. The median 10-year risk according to Framingham risk score was 21.4%, and it was 16.3% according to the American Heart Association. From the 211 patients with risk scores, there were 179 (84.8%) who needed statins (175 of high intensity, 97.8%), and 88 (27.3%) required aspirin as a primary prevention; however, 56 of these patients (31.3%) did not receive any statins, 127 (72.6%) did not receive the high intensity statin they needed, and 38 (43.2% of those with indication) lacked aspirin. Conclusion: Real-life data show that among a group of patients with high cardiovascular risk, a substantial proportion were not receiving medications for primary prevention necessary to reduce their risk and finally suffered an acute coronary event.

Lipid-lowering drug prescriptions in a group of Colombian patients

Introduction.

Lipid-lowering drugs, especially statins, have shown great relevance in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases.

Objective.

To determine the prescription patterns of lipid-lowering drugs and the variables associated with their use in a Colombian population.

Materials and methods.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. From a drugdispensing database of approximately 4.5 million Colombian health system affiliates, patients of all ages and both sexes treated with lipid-lowering agents (statins, fibrates, ezetimibe) were identified between January and March, 2017. Demographic, pharmacological and co-medication variables were included.

Results.

In total, 103,624 patients were identified as being treated with lipid-lowering agents. The average age was 67.5 years, and 49.8% were 65 years or older. Women comprised 58.0% of the patients. Statins were the most used (n=96,910; 93.5%), and atorvastatin (n=80,812; 78.0%) and lovastatin (n=12,621; 12.2%) were the most frequent. The mean atorvastatin dose was 30.3 mg/day, and 49.9% of its users received presentations of 40 mg or more. A total of 9,258 (8.9%) patients received fibrates, and only 780 (0.8%) were taking ezetimibe. Of this population, 94.9% were treated with lipid-lowering monotherapy, and 97.3% (n=100,813) had co-medication for their comorbidities, with the most frequent being antihypertensive (89.1%), antiplatelet (57.8%), antidiabetic (31.5%) and antiulcerative agents (34.2%).

Conclusions.

Atorvastatin is currently the most frequently used lipid-lowering drug in this group of Colombian patients, especially in monotherapy and at doses close to the defined daily dose. Only half received high-intensity doses. New studies are required to verify the efficacy of these therapies.

Statin use and cardiovascular risk factors in diabetic patients developing a first myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND

The risk for a first myocardial infarction (MI) in people with diabetes has been shown to be as high as the risk for a new MI in non-diabetic patients with a prior MI. Consequently, risk-reducing statin therapy is recommended for nearly all patients with diabetes 40 years of age or older, regardless of cholesterol level. The purpose of this study was to assess the recommended and real-life use of statins for primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in diabetic patients who develop ASCVD.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional multicenter study of consecutive patients without previous ASCVD hospitalized with a first MI in 2010-2012, we obtained information on diabetic status, statin use, and cardiovascular risk factors prior to MI.

RESULTS

The study population consisted of 1622 patients with first MI (63 % men), 228 of whom had known diabetes before MI. All but three of the diabetic patients were ≥40 years of age. Diabetic patients were older (70 vs 68, p = 0.006), were more often women (43 vs 36 %, p = 0.05) and had a higher prevalence of statin use (47 vs 11 %, p < 0.001) compared with non-diabetic patients. Despite a high risk factor burden, the majority (53 %) of patients with known diabetes was not treated with statins before MI, and there was no relationship between the number of high-risk markers and statin use. Nearly all diabetic patients not treated with statins before first MI had at least one marker of very high cardiovascular risk, including hypertension (71 %), current smoking (37 %), and nephropathy (33 %).

CONCLUSIONS

Primary prevention with statins had been initiated in less than half of diabetic patients destined for a first MI, despite the presence of one or more markers of very high cardiovascular risk in nearly all. These results highlight an urgent need for optimizing statin therapy and global risk factor control in diabetic patients.