Only 67% of high-cardiovascular-risk patients are treated with lipid-modifying therapy (LMT), of which only 7% used a high-potency statin. Among LMT users, 69% of those taking high-potency statins, 70% taking standard-potency statins, and 20% receiving non-statin LMTs attains an LDL-C goal <100 mg/dL. This was found in a study recently published in Clinical Therapeutics. In this study the use of lipid-modifying therapy and attainment of LDL-C goals were investigated in a population at high cardiovascular risk, using data from the PHARMO Database Network. Results suggest that improvements in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in the Netherlands are needed because many high-cardiovascular-risk patients are not being treated with the maximally tolerated dose of statin. Increased use of statins and LMTs overall, as well as increased high-potency statin use, may be required to reduce cardiovascular risk in this population, and if that does not suffice, ultimately the addition of newer therapeutic options might be needed.

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