Study Compares USPSTF and ACC/AHA Statin Recommendations

Adherence to the 2016 USPSTF statin recommendations could result in 9 million fewer adults being recommended for primary prevention statin therapy, compared with the 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines, according to a recent analysis.

The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to evaluate statin eligibility in 3416 US adults aged 40 to 75 years with fasting lipid data and triglyceride levels of 400 mg/dL or less, and without prior cardiovascular disease.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RELATED CONTENT
Diuretics, Statins May Increase Risk for Diabetes
FDA Pulls Approval of 2 Drugs Used in Combination with Statins
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall, full implementation of the USPSTF recommendations—which consider statins in adults with at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor whose 10-year risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease was 10% or higher—would result in an additional 15.8% of patients being considered for primary prevention statin therapy, compared with 24.3% who would be recommended statins under full implementation of the ACC/AHA guidelines, which recommend statin initiation in patients with a 10-year risk of 7.5% or greater.

Among the 8.9% who would be recommended statins under the ACC/AHA but not under the USPSTF recommendations, 55% were adults aged 40 to 59 years with a mean 30-year cardiovascular risk greater than 30%.

“Compared with the 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines, adherence to the 2016 USPSTF recommendations could lead to a lower number of individuals recommended for primary prevention statin therapy, including many younger adults with high mean long-term CVD risk,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Pagidipati NJ, Navar AM, Mulder H, et al. Comparison of recommended eligibility for primary prevention statin therapy based on the US preventive services task force recommendations vs the ACC/AHA guidelines. JAMA. 2017;317(15):1563-1567.