A study published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that elevated lipid levels were not being treated often enough, especially in women. Researchers examined 825 men and women with coronary artery disease at 16 medical centers in the United States and Canada for three years. InteliHealth spoke with Wendy Post, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, who explained the significance of these findings.
Lipids are the fats that circulate in blood.
The most commonly used medications are the statins. The first is that treatment is less commonly provided to women, and second, that treatment in general is suboptimal. Although the guidelines are clear, most patients are not achieving the recommended LDL cholesterol targets. Cost may be an issue, and also the perceived side effects, although these medications really have very few side effects. Side effects are actually quite rare.