BackgroundIt is important to achieve the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goal recommended by clinical guidelines in managing the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events, however, the current management of LDL-C in actual clinical settings is suboptimal. We examined the LDL-C level among patients with dyslipidemia against the 2015 Korean guidelines, the crude rates of CV events based on LDL-C goal achievement, and the factors associated with LDL-C goal achievement.
MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study using the National Health Insurance Service-National Health Screening Cohort (NHIS-HEALS) database from 2006 to 2013. Patients who had a health examination with LDL-C measurement between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011 were identified. Patients were required to have at least one diagnosis of dyslipidemia during the 1 year before the index date, defined as the first date of LDL-C measurement. The 2015 Korean guidelines were used to measure LDL-C goal achievement based on the CV risk level. Crude CV event rates were calculated for total and individual CV events as the number of events divided by person-years (PYs) during the follow-up period. CV events included acute coronary syndrome, ischemic stroke, peripheral artery disease, CV death, and all-cause death. Factors associated with LDL-C goal achievement were assessed using logistic regression.
ResultsIn the NHIS-HEALS database, 69,942 patients met the eligibility criteria: 36.7%, 22.5%, 20.1%, and 20.6% were among the very high-, high-, moderate-, and low-risk groups for the CV events, respectively, as defined by the 2015 Korean guidelines. Approximately half of the patients with dyslipidemia (47.6%) achieved their recommended LDL-C goal, but the achievement rates were substantially different across CV risk levels (17.6%, 47.2%, 66.9%, and 82.4% for very high-, high-, moderate-, and low-risk groups, respectively; P<0.0001).