Treatment potential for cholesterol management in patients with coronary heart disease in 15 European countries: findings from the EUROASPIRE II survey.

BACKGROUND: During the last decade, the evidence of beneficial effects of cholesterol lowering in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) has been proven in several clinical trials. This has prompted international guidelines on prevention of CHD to include recommendations on dietary and pharmacological treatment of hyperlipidaemia with set goals on total- and LDL-cholesterol.
METHODS: The first EUROASPIRE survey performed in 1995/1996 showed poor adherence to the European recommendations on lipid-lowering in patients with CHD. The second survey was carried out in 1999/2000 in 15 European countries and enrolled 8181 patients with CHD. Medical records were assessed and clinical examinations of risk factors including serum lipids were performed. The aim of this survey is to describe the treatment of hyperlipidaemia among CHD patients in Europe.
RESULTS: The proportion of patients not reaching the target of 5.0mmol/l was 58.3% with significant variations between countries. The use of lipid-lowering drugs was relatively high (60.9%). However, the most frequently used doses of lipid-lowering agents were much lower than the doses of proven effect used in clinical trials.
CONCLUSIONS: Although the treatment of hyperlipidaemia in CHD patients seems to be improving as compared to the first survey, a significant number of patients do not reach treatment goals. If the full potential of lipid-lowering therapy was utilised with all eligible patients treated and doses titrated correctly, more patients would benefit in terms of reduced morbidity and mortality of CHD.