Comparison of Current International Guidelines for the Management of Dyslipidemia

Abstract

The dyslipidemia guidelines of the three major societies have been revised recently in light of new evidence. LDL-C is the primary target in the ESC, AHA/ACC/Multisociety and Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) guidelines. These guidelines uniformly recommend intensifying lipid-lowering treatment with increased risk; however, the risk estimation systems are different across the guidelines. The ESC guidelines have LDL-C goals which have become more stringent over the years and advocate the use of statin and, if necessary, non-statin therapies to obtain these goals. AHA/ACC/Multisociety guidelines have LDL-C thresholds and advocate combination therapy less liberally and for selected patients. All three guidelines acknowledge the importance of shared decision making. Despite some divergent approaches and recommendations, the main principles and messages are the same across the guidelines. To combat the epidemic of cardiovascular disease, our focus should be not on the differences but on implementing the guidelines in our region.

Keywords: dyslipidemia; primary prevention; risk management; secondary prevention.