Details:

Alternative Title:
Prev Chronic Dis
Personal Author:
O’Connor, Patrick J. ; Gray, Richard J. ; Maciosek, Michael V. ; Fillbrandt, Kelly M. ; DeFor, Terese A. ; ... More +
O’Connor, Patrick J. ; Gray, Richard J. ; Maciosek, Michael V. ; Fillbrandt, Kelly M. ; DeFor, Terese A. ; Alexander, Charles M. ; Weiss, Thomas W. ; Teutsch, Steven M. Less -
Description:
Introduction

Therapy with 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, or statins, has proven to be effective in the treatment of lipid disorders. However, statin therapy continues to be underused, even though statins are a relatively safe and well-tolerated class of agents. In this study, we assessed trends in lipid control in patients with heart disease who receive most of their health care in primary care clinics. The objective was to determine whether systems of care implemented within a large medical group are associated with improved treatment and control of dyslipidemia in a high-risk group of coronary heart disease patients.

Methods

All adults with heart disease in a Minnesota medical group (N = 2947) were identified using diagnosis and procedure codes related to coronary heart disease (sensitivity = 0.85; positive predictive value = 0.89) in 1996. Study subjects were observed from 1995 to 1998. Subjects had a baseline and follow-up test for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Changes between baseline and follow-up measurements and trends in the use of statins and other lipid-active agents among the study subjects were analyzed.

Results

Among 1388 subjects with two or more eligible lipid measurements, mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol improved from 137.6 mg/dL to 111.0 mg/dL (P < .001), and mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol improved from 42.3 mg/dL to 46.3 mg/dL (P < .001). The percentage of patients with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≤100 mg/dL rose from 12.5% to 39.8% (P < .001), and the percentage with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥40 mg/dL rose from 52.5% to 67.6% (P < .001). In multivariate models, statin use was identified as the main factor that contributed to the improvement in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P < .001). Men had greater decreases in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol than women after adjusting for other variables (P < .001). Statin use rose from 24.3% at baseline to 69.6% at follow-up. The statin discontinuation rate was 8.3% for baseline statin users and 12.2% for subjects who used statins at any time during the study period.

Conclusion

Investment in better heart disease care for patients in primary care clinics led to major improvement in lipid control over 30 months, primarily due to increased statin use. Improvements in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were sufficient to substantially reduce risk of subsequent major cardiovascular events.


Subjects:
[+]
Aged Cholesterol, HDL Cholesterol, LDL Comorbidity Coronary Disease Dyslipidemias Female Humans Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors Male Middle Aged Multivariate Analysis Physician's Practice Patterns Primary Health Care Socioeconomic Factors
Source:
Prev Chronic Dis. 2005; 2(3).
Document Type:
Journal Article
Place as Subject:
Minnesota
Location:
North America
Collection(s):
Preventing Chronic Disease
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:4d90343474d20925d410372497da4062f226b0dca841738cf3014f4f37eca6a6
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/19943/cdc_19943_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	license.txt	txt
  	PCD23A05.nxml	txt

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