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The A-SACT (Achievement in Singapore of Cholesterol Targets) Study in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

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Abstract

Background

Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death worldwide, with hypercholesterolemia being a major risk factor. Evidence-based consensus guidelines have recommended consideration of increasingly stringent cholesterol-lowering goals, yet most patients do not meet these targets. Coronary heart disease (CHD) event and mortality rates and mean serum cholesterol levels have declined in Singapore in recent years; however, certain groups remain at elevated risk.

Objective

To determine (i) proportions of patients with CHD in Singapore who achieved goals for serum low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C); and (ii) factors influencing goal attainment.

Methods

A historical cohort study was conducted using records from the Singapore Cardiac Databank, a national registry of CHD patients. Serum LDL-C goal attainment was assessed in 5174 survivors of acute myocardial infarction or coronary revascularization (i.e. coronary artery bypass graft surgery or percutaneous coronary interventions), of whom 3811 (73.7%) were at very high risk.

Results

At baseline, the mean patient age was 60.3 years, mean serum value of total cholesterol was 228 mg/dL, and mean LDL-C was 163mg/dL. Of all CHD patients, approximately 70% did not achieve a serum LDL-C target of <100mg/dL. Most patients receiving HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) regimens were treated initially with low- to medium-equipotency regimens and were never titrated to stronger regimens. The vast majority (∼94%) of patients at very high risk did not achieve the stringent serum LDL-C target of <70mg/dL. Patients receiving higher potency statins were significantly more likely to achieve LDL-C goals, whereas those with higher baseline LDL-C levels or Malaysian ethnicity were less likely to achieve LDL-C goals.

Conclusions

Most CHD patients in the large group of Singapore residents with CHD in the present study did not achieve recommended LDL-C targets. A more effective disease-management approach, including patient education concerning lifestyle modification (e.g. diet, physical activity), efforts to enhance medication adherence, and more effective, well tolerated therapies such as high-equipotency or high-dose statins and statin combination regimens, may be needed to improve achievement of consensus cholesterol targets. This is the first study of cholesterol goal attainment in a large group of Southeast Asians and serves as a baseline for future evaluations in Asian populations.

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Acknowledgments

Assistance in manuscript preparation was provided by Stephen W. Gutkin, Rete Biomedical Communications Corp. (Ridgewood, NJ, USA). Med Data Analytics Inc. had access to the database on which this study report was based. Dr Binayak Deb assisted in acquiring, analyzing, and interpreting data.

Author contributions: Study concept: Kheng-Thye Ho; Study design: Dr Ho and all other authors; Acquisition of data: Dr Ho, Khong-Whee Chin, and Kheng-Siang Ng; Analysis and interpretation of data; all authors; Drafting of the manuscript: Dr Ho with editorial assistance from Stephen W. Gutkin; Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: all authors; Statistical analysis: Srinivasan Rajagopalan; Obtained funding: Dr Ho; Administrative, technical, and material support: Evo Alemao; Study supervision: Dr Ho. Financial support for the study was provided by a grant from MSP (Merck/Schering-Plough) Singapore Company, LLC.

Conflicts of interest are as follows: Khong-Whee Chin is an employee of Merck Research Laboratories, Merck and Co., Inc. Evo Alemao and Don Yin are employees of Merck and Co., Inc., and are Merck shareholders (stocks and stock options). Srinivasan Rajagopalan and Stephen W. Gutkin are paid consultants to Merck. Neither Kheng-Thye Ho nor Kheng-Siang Ng has any affiliation with the sponsor or any financial interests in this report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308433, Republic of Singapore

    Kheng-Thye Ho & Kheng-Siang Ng

  2. Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey, USA

    Khong-Whee Chin

  3. Outcomes Research, Merck and Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA

    Evo Alemao & Don Yin

  4. Med Data Analytics Inc., Williamsville, New York, USA

    Srinivasan Rajagopalan

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  1. Kheng-Thye Ho
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Correspondence to Kheng-Thye Ho.

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Ho, KT., Chin, KW., Ng, KS. et al. The A-SACT (Achievement in Singapore of Cholesterol Targets) Study in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease. Am J Cardiovasc Drugs 6, 383–391 (2006). https://doi.org/10.2165/00129784-200606060-00005

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