Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008;4(5):1127-35.
doi: 10.2147/vhrm.s3748.

Maintenance of improved lipid levels following attendance at a cardiovascular risk reduction clinic: a 10-year experience

Glen J Pearson  1 , Kari L Olson, Nicole E Panich, Sumit R Majumdar, Ross T Tsuyuki, Dawna M Gilchrist, Ali Damani, Gordon A Francis
Affiliations

Maintenance of improved lipid levels following attendance at a cardiovascular risk reduction clinic: a 10-year experience

Glen J Pearson et al. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2008.

Abstract

Background: Specialty cardiovascular risk reduction clinics (CRRC) increase the proportion of patients attaining recommended lipid targets; however, it is not known if the benefits are sustained after discharge. We evaluated the impact of a CRRC on lipid levels and assessed the long-term effect of a CRRC in maintaining improved lipid levels following discharge.

Methods: The medical records of consecutive dyslipidemic patients discharged > 6 months from a tertiary hospital CRRC from January 1991 to January 2001 were retrospectively reviewed. The primary outcome was the change in patients' lipid levels between the final CRRC visit and the most recent primary care follow-up. A worst-case analysis was conducted to evaluate the potential impact of the patients in whom the follow-up lipid profiles post-discharge from the CRRC were not obtained.

Results: Within the CRRC (median follow-up = 1.28 years in 1064 patients), we observed statistically significant improvements in all lipid parameters. In the 411 patients for whom post-discharge lipid profiles were available (median follow-up = 2.41 years), there were no significant differences observed in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, total cholesterol (TC), or triglycerides since CRRC discharge; however, there were small improvements in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and TC:HDL ratio (p < 0.05 for both). The unadjusted worst-case analysis (653 patients with no follow-up lipid profiles) demonstrated statistically significant worsening of all lipid parameters between CRRC discharge and the most recent follow-up. However, when the change in lipid parameters between the baseline and the most recent follow-up was assessed in this analysis, the changes in all lipid parameters were significantly improved (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that a CRRC can improve lipid levels and suggests that these benefits are sustained once patients are returned to the care of their primary physician.

Keywords: cardiovascular risk factors; dyslipidemia; outcomes; pharmacotherapy; secondary prevention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study patient disposition. Abbreviations:
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Anderson KM, Castelli WP, Levy D. Cholesterol and mortality: 30 years of follow up from the Framingham study. JAMA. 1987;257:2176–80. - PubMed
    1. Baigent C, Keech A, Kearney PM, et al. Efficacy and safety of cholesterol-lowering treatment: prospective meta-analysis of data from 90,056 participants in 14 randomized trials of statins. Lancet. 2005;366:1267–78. - PubMed
    1. Castelli WP, Garrison RJ, Wilson PWF, et al. Incidence of coronary heart disease and lipoprotein cholesterol levels. JAMA. 1986;256:2835–8. - PubMed
    1. Cooke CE, Hammerash WJ., Jr Retrospective review of sex differences in the management of dyslipidemia in coronary heart disease: an analysis of patient data from a Maryland-based health maintenance organization. Clin Ther. 2006;28:591–9. - PubMed
    1. Fodor JG, Frolich JJ, Genest JJG, Jr, et al. Recommendations for the management and treatment of dyslipidemia. CMAJ. 2000;162:1441–7. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types