Hao Sen Andrew Fang1, Qiao Gao2, Mong Li Lee3,2, Wynne Hsu3,2, Ngiap Chuan Tan4,5. 1. SingHealth Polyclinics, SingHealth, 167, Jalan Bukit Merah, Connection One, Tower 5, #15-10, Singapore, P.O. 150167, Singapore. andrew.fang.h.s@singhealth.com.sg. 2. Institute of Data Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. 3. School of Computing, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. 4. SingHealth Polyclinics, SingHealth, 167, Jalan Bukit Merah, Connection One, Tower 5, #15-10, Singapore, P.O. 150167, Singapore. 5. Family Medicine Academic Clinical Programme, SingHealth-Duke NUS Academic Medical Centre, Singapore, Singapore.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Clinical trials have demonstrated that either initiating or up-titrating a statin dose substantially reduce Low-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. However, statin adherence in actual practice tends to be suboptimal, leading to diminished effectiveness. This study aims to use real-world data to determine the effect on LDL-C levels and LDL-C goal attainment rates, when selected statins are titrated in Asian patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study over a 5-year period, from April 2014 to March 2019 was conducted on a cohort of multi-ethnic adult Asian patients with clinical diagnosis of Dyslipidaemia in a primary care clinic in Singapore. The statins were classified into low-intensity (LI), moderate-intensity (MI) and high-intensity (HI) groups according to the 2018 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Blood Cholesterol Guidelines. Patients were grouped into "No statin", "Non-titrators" and "Titrators" cohorts based on prescribing patterns. For the "Titrators" cohort, the mean percentage change in LDL-C and absolute change in LDL-C goal attainment rates were computed for each permutation of statin intensity titration. RESULTS: Among the cohort of 11,499 patients, with a total of 266,762 visits, there were 1962 pairs of LDL-C values associated with a statin titration. Initiation of LI, MI and HI statin resulted in a lowering of LDL-C by 21.6% (95%CI = 18.9-24.3%), 28.9% (95%CI = 25.0-32.7%) and 25.2% (95%CI = 12.8-37.7%) respectively. These were comparatively lower than results from clinical trials (30 to 63%). The change of LDL-C levels due to up-titration, down-titration, and discontinuation were - 12.4% to - 28.9%, + 13.2% to + 24.6%, and + 18.1% to + 32.1% respectively. The improvement in LDL-C goal attainment ranged from 26.5% to 47.1% when statin intensity was up-titrated. CONCLUSION: In this study based on real-world data of Asian patients in primary care, it was shown that although statin titration substantially affected LDL-C levels and LDL-C goal attainment rates, the magnitude was lower than results reported from clinical trials. These results should be taken into consideration and provide further insight to clinicians when making statin adjustment recommendations in order to achieve LDL-C targets in clinical practice, particularly for Asian populations.
BACKGROUND: Clinical trials have demonstrated that either initiating or up-titrating a statin dose substantially reduce Low-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. However, statin adherence in actual practice tends to be suboptimal, leading to diminished effectiveness. This study aims to use real-world data to determine the effect on LDL-C levels and LDL-C goal attainment rates, when selected statins are titrated in Asian patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study over a 5-year period, from April 2014 to March 2019 was conducted on a cohort of multi-ethnic adult Asian patients with clinical diagnosis of Dyslipidaemia in a primary care clinic in Singapore. The statins were classified into low-intensity (LI), moderate-intensity (MI) and high-intensity (HI) groups according to the 2018 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Blood Cholesterol Guidelines. Patients were grouped into "No statin", "Non-titrators" and "Titrators" cohorts based on prescribing patterns. For the "Titrators" cohort, the mean percentage change in LDL-C and absolute change in LDL-C goal attainment rates were computed for each permutation of statin intensity titration. RESULTS: Among the cohort of 11,499 patients, with a total of 266,762 visits, there were 1962 pairs of LDL-C values associated with a statin titration. Initiation of LI, MI and HI statin resulted in a lowering of LDL-C by 21.6% (95%CI = 18.9-24.3%), 28.9% (95%CI = 25.0-32.7%) and 25.2% (95%CI = 12.8-37.7%) respectively. These were comparatively lower than results from clinical trials (30 to 63%). The change of LDL-C levels due to up-titration, down-titration, and discontinuation were - 12.4% to - 28.9%, + 13.2% to + 24.6%, and + 18.1% to + 32.1% respectively. The improvement in LDL-C goal attainment ranged from 26.5% to 47.1% when statin intensity was up-titrated. CONCLUSION: In this study based on real-world data of Asian patients in primary care, it was shown that although statin titration substantially affected LDL-C levels and LDL-C goal attainment rates, the magnitude was lower than results reported from clinical trials. These results should be taken into consideration and provide further insight to clinicians when making statin adjustment recommendations in order to achieve LDL-C targets in clinical practice, particularly for Asian populations.
Authors: Scott M Grundy; Neil J Stone; Alison L Bailey; Craig Beam; Kim K Birtcher; Roger S Blumenthal; Lynne T Braun; Sarah de Ferranti; Joseph Faiella-Tommasino; Daniel E Forman; Ronald Goldberg; Paul A Heidenreich; Mark A Hlatky; Daniel W Jones; Donald Lloyd-Jones; Nuria Lopez-Pajares; Chiadi E Ndumele; Carl E Orringer; Carmen A Peralta; Joseph J Saseen; Sidney C Smith; Laurence Sperling; Salim S Virani; Joseph Yeboah Journal: J Am Coll Cardiol Date: 2018-11-10 Impact factor: 24.094
Authors: D R Illingworth; E A Stein; Y B Mitchel; C A Dujovne; P H Frost; R H Knopp; P Tun; R V Zupkis; R A Greguski Journal: Arch Intern Med Date: 1994-07-25
Authors: Peter H Jones; Michael H Davidson; Evan A Stein; Harold E Bays; James M McKenney; Elinor Miller; Valerie A Cain; James W Blasetto Journal: Am J Cardiol Date: 2003-07-15 Impact factor: 2.778