An official website of the United States government
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.
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.
In: Endotext [Internet]. South Dartmouth (MA): MDText.com, Inc.; 2000.
.
Affiliations
Affiliations
1 Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Director of Outcomes Research, Harold Simmons Center for Kidney Disease Research and Epidemiology, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Orange, Ca, Health Science Specialist, Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center, Long Beach, Ca, 101 The City Drive, City Tower, Suite 424, Orange Ca 92868
2 Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of California- San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Book Affiliations
1 Professor of Medicine Emeritus, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2 Developmental Endocrinology Research Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
3 Chief of Medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center and Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine, University of Washington
4 Sr. Physician Scientist, Washington DC VA Medical Center; Professor of Medicine & Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University; Clinical Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, George Washington University; and Professor of Medicine (Part-time), Johns Hopkins University
5 Pediatric Endocrinologist and Associate Research Physician in the Skeletal Diseases and Mineral Homeostasis Section, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health
6 Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, "Aghia Sophia" Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece
7 M.D. Ph.D in Gerontology. Honorary Professor of Medicine, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid. Consultant in Endocrinology, Hospital HLA Guadalajara (Spain).
8 Professor of Endocrine Oncology, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
9 Consultant in Diabetes, Endocrinology and General Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
10 Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Ohio State University
11 Consultant Endocrinologist, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
12 Consultant Endocrinologist, Department of Endocrinology, Bharti Hospital, Karnal, India
13 Professor of General Medicine-Endocrinology, 1st Department of Propaedeutic Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
14 Professor of Endocrinology, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
15 Professor, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee
16 Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
17 Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Centre Lead for Endocrinology and Deputy Institute Director, William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, England
18 University Research Professor and Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology and Metabolism), Obstetrics & Gynecology, and BioMedical Sciences, at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
19 Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at Boston Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boston University School of Medicine
20 Professor of Medicine, New York Nutrition Obesity Research Center, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
21 Consultant endocrinologist at University Hospitals of Leicester and Honorary Associate Professor at Leicester University
22 Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Vermont and Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Burlington, Vermont
23 Director of Clinical Research, Hudson Institute of Medical Research; Consultant Endocrinologist, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
24 Allan L. Drash Endowed Chair, Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Professor of Pediatrics and Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
25 Professor of Medicine, Knight Cardiovascular Institute and the Division of Endocrinology, and Associate Director, Bob and Charlee Moore Institute for Nutrition and Wellness, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
26 Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas “Dr. César Bergadá” (CEDIE), CONICET-FEI-División de Endocrinología, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD Buenos Aires; and Departamento de Histología, Biología Celular, Embriología y Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1121ABG Buenos Aires, Argentina
27 Professor and Head of Department of Endocrinology, Osmania Medical College and Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, India.
28 Professor of Pediatrics, The University of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Division of Endocrinology, Cincinnati, OH, USA
29 Director of the Endocrine/Bone Disease Program, Saint Johns Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, CA; Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
30 Professorial Lecturer, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Emeritus Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh.
31 CSO, ELPEN, Inc. & Director, Research Institute, Athens, Greece & Senior Investigator, Human Genetics & Precision Medicine, FORTH (ITE), Heraklion, Greece. Emeritus Scientific Director & Senior Investigator, NICHD, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
32 Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
33 Endowed Chair, Cardiovascular Health and Risk Prevention, Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX
1 Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Director of Outcomes Research, Harold Simmons Center for Kidney Disease Research and Epidemiology, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Orange, Ca, Health Science Specialist, Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center, Long Beach, Ca, 101 The City Drive, City Tower, Suite 424, Orange Ca 92868
2 Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of California- San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Book Affiliations
1 Professor of Medicine Emeritus, University of California, San Francisco, CA
2 Developmental Endocrinology Research Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
3 Chief of Medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center and Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine, University of Washington
4 Sr. Physician Scientist, Washington DC VA Medical Center; Professor of Medicine & Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University; Clinical Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, George Washington University; and Professor of Medicine (Part-time), Johns Hopkins University
5 Pediatric Endocrinologist and Associate Research Physician in the Skeletal Diseases and Mineral Homeostasis Section, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health
6 Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, First Department of Pediatrics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, "Aghia Sophia" Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece
7 M.D. Ph.D in Gerontology. Honorary Professor of Medicine, Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid. Consultant in Endocrinology, Hospital HLA Guadalajara (Spain).
8 Professor of Endocrine Oncology, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
9 Consultant in Diabetes, Endocrinology and General Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
10 Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Ohio State University
11 Consultant Endocrinologist, Erasmus MC and Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
12 Consultant Endocrinologist, Department of Endocrinology, Bharti Hospital, Karnal, India
13 Professor of General Medicine-Endocrinology, 1st Department of Propaedeutic Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
14 Professor of Endocrinology, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
15 Professor, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee
16 Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
17 Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Centre Lead for Endocrinology and Deputy Institute Director, William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, England
18 University Research Professor and Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology and Metabolism), Obstetrics & Gynecology, and BioMedical Sciences, at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
19 Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at Boston Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boston University School of Medicine
20 Professor of Medicine, New York Nutrition Obesity Research Center, Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
21 Consultant endocrinologist at University Hospitals of Leicester and Honorary Associate Professor at Leicester University
22 Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Vermont and Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Burlington, Vermont
23 Director of Clinical Research, Hudson Institute of Medical Research; Consultant Endocrinologist, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
24 Allan L. Drash Endowed Chair, Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Professor of Pediatrics and Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
25 Professor of Medicine, Knight Cardiovascular Institute and the Division of Endocrinology, and Associate Director, Bob and Charlee Moore Institute for Nutrition and Wellness, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
26 Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas “Dr. César Bergadá” (CEDIE), CONICET-FEI-División de Endocrinología, Hospital de Niños Ricardo Gutiérrez, Gallo 1330, C1425EFD Buenos Aires; and Departamento de Histología, Biología Celular, Embriología y Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1121ABG Buenos Aires, Argentina
27 Professor and Head of Department of Endocrinology, Osmania Medical College and Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, India.
28 Professor of Pediatrics, The University of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Division of Endocrinology, Cincinnati, OH, USA
29 Director of the Endocrine/Bone Disease Program, Saint Johns Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, CA; Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
30 Professorial Lecturer, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Emeritus Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh.
31 CSO, ELPEN, Inc. & Director, Research Institute, Athens, Greece & Senior Investigator, Human Genetics & Precision Medicine, FORTH (ITE), Heraklion, Greece. Emeritus Scientific Director & Senior Investigator, NICHD, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA
32 Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
33 Endowed Chair, Cardiovascular Health and Risk Prevention, Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX
The definition of elderly is arbitrary. In this chapter we will define elderly as greater than 75 years of age because both the US and European lipids guidelines use this age to differentiate therapy recommendations. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Age is a key risk factor for ASCVD and with identical risk factors the 10-year risk of an ASCVD event markedly increases with age. In fact, an older individual with excellent risk factors can still have a high risk for having an ASCVD event. ASCVD begins early in life and progresses until it leads to clinical events later in life. The age that one develops clinical manifestations of ASCVD is dependent on the severity of individual risk factors, the number of risk factors, and the duration of exposure to the risk factors. Elderly individuals have a long exposure to risk factors so even when the risk factors are relatively modest the cumulative effects can be sufficient to result in clinical ASCVD events. This explains why age is such a key variable in determining the risk of developing an ASCVD event. Cardiovascular outcome studies have demonstrated that lowering LDL-C levels with statins, ezetimibe, or PCSK 9 monoclonal antibodies will reduce ASCVD events in elderly patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (secondary prevention). In elderly patients without cardiovascular disease (primary prevention) the available data does not definitively demonstrate a decrease in ASCVD events with statin or ezetimibe therapy but is suggestive of a benefit (note there are no primary prevention trials with PCSK9 inhibitors). Additional data is required to determine if bempedoic acid and icosapent ethyl reduce ASCVD events in patients ≥ 75 years of age. Studies are currently underway to provide definitive information on whether statin therapy is beneficial as primary prevention in the elderly. In deciding whether to treat an elderly patient with lipid lowering drugs one needs to consider the following factors; the higher the LDL-C level the greater the benefit of lowering LDL-C, the greater the decrease in LDL-C the greater the benefit, the higher the absolute risk of ASCVD the greater the benefit of lowering LDL-C, life expectancy, competing non-cardiovascular disorders, risk of drug side effects, potential for drug interactions, and patient preferences. In elderly patients without pre-existing ASCVD one should estimate the patient’s risk of developing ASCVD events and in conjunction with the general principles described above discuss with the patient a treatment plan. Determining the coronary calcium score can be helpful if there is uncertainty regarding the appropriate decision. If the decision is to treat our goal in primary prevention patients is often an LDL-C < 100mg/dL but in high-risk patients our goal may be an LDL-C < 70mg/dL. Elderly patients with ASCVD should be treated with lipid lowering drugs to reduce ASCVD unless there are contraindications. At a minimum our goal is an LDL-C < 70mg/dL but we would prefer an LDL-C < 55mg/dL if they can be achieved with a statin + ezetimibe. In very high-risk patients our goal is an LDL-C < 55mg/dL and adding a PCSK9 inhibitor may be required to achieve these levels in some patients. Age per se should not be used to withhold therapy with lipid lowering drugs that can reduce the risk of ASCVD events. For complete coverage of all related areas of Endocrinology, please visit our on-line FREE web-text, WWW.ENDOTEXT.ORG.
Savji N, Rockman CB, Skolnick AH, Guo Y, Adelman MA, Riles T, Berger JS. Association between advanced age and vascular disease in different arterial territories: a population database of over 3.6 million subjects. J Am Coll Cardiol 2013; 61:1736-1743
-
PubMed
Grundy SM, Stone NJ, Bailey AL, Beam C, Birtcher KK, Blumenthal RS, Braun LT, de Ferranti S, Faiella-Tommasino J, Forman DE, Goldberg R, Heidenreich PA, Hlatky MA, Jones DW, Lloyd-Jones D, Lopez-Pajares N, Ndumele CE, Orringer CE, Peralta CA, Saseen JJ, Smith SC, Jr., Sperling L, Virani SS, Yeboah J. 2018 AHA/ACC/AACVPR/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/ADA/AGS/APhA/ASPC/NLA/PCNA Guideline on the Management of Blood Cholesterol: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Circulation 2019; 139:e1082-e1143
-
PMC
-
PubMed
Mach F, Baigent C, Catapano AL, Koskinas KC, Casula M, Badimon L, Chapman MJ, De Backer GG, Delgado V, Ference BA, Graham IM, Halliday A, Landmesser U, Mihaylova B, Pedersen TR, Riccardi G, Richter DJ, Sabatine MS, Taskinen MR, Tokgozoglu L, Wiklund O. 2019 ESC/EAS Guidelines for the management of dyslipidaemias: lipid modification to reduce cardiovascular risk. Eur Heart J 2020; 41:111-188
-
PubMed
Ghandehari H, Kamal-Bahl S, Wong ND. Prevalence and extent of dyslipidemia and recommended lipid levels in US adults with and without cardiovascular comorbidities: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2004. Am Heart J 2008; 156:112-119
-
PubMed
Laurenzi M, Mancini M. Plasma lipids in elderly men and women. Eur Heart J 1988; 9 Suppl D:69-74
-
PubMed
