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Approach to Statin Use in 2016: an Update

  • Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke (S. Prabhakaran, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Statin therapy is the pharmacologic foundation of cholesterol treatment and the most common class of medication prescribed in the USA. The clinical benefits of statins and their favorable side effect profile have been well established for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease prevention. With new guidelines on the treatment of dyslipidemia being published in the last several years, a greater percentage of the population now appears eligible for statin therapy. In this review, we discuss the updated American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association and National Lipid Association guidelines on lipid treatment, both of which endorse the importance of shared decision making and patient-centered care. We discuss factors beyond traditional risk factors that may be useful in refining risk-based decision making. Furthermore, we summarize the available statins, their potential benefits and limitations, and recent evidence on safety and tolerability.

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  1. Department of Medicine, Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, Johns Hopkins Hospital 600 N. Wolfe Street, Nelson 215, Baltimore, MD, 21287, USA

    P. Elliott Miller & Seth S. Martin

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Correspondence to P. Elliott Miller.

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P. Elliott Miller declares no conflict of interest.

Seth S. Martin declares grants from the PJ Schafer Cardiovascular Research Fund, American Heart Association, Aetna Foundation, and Google. He declares honoraria from the American College of Cardiology for dyslipidemia-related educational activities. In addition, Dr. Martin is listed as a coinventor on a pending patent filed by Johns Hopkins University for a novel method of LDL-C estimation.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke

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Miller, P.E., Martin, S.S. Approach to Statin Use in 2016: an Update. Curr Atheroscler Rep 18, 20 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-016-0578-1

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