Abstract
Electronic health record data were analyzed to estimate the number of statin-eligible adults with the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association cholesterol guidelines not taking statin therapy and the impact of recommended statin therapy on 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD10 ) events. Adults aged 21 to 80 years in an outpatient network with ≥1 clinic visit(s) from January 2011 to June 2014 with data to calculate ASCVD10 were eligible. Moderate-intensity statin therapy was assumed to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 30% and high-intensity therapy was assumed to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 50%. ASCVD events were assumed to decline 22% for each 39 mg/dL decline in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Among 411,768 adults, 260,434 (63.2%) were not taking statins and 103,478 (39.7%) were eligible for a statin, including 79,069 (76.4%) patients with hypertension. Estimated ASCVD10 events were 18,781 without and 13,328 with statin therapy, a 29.0% relative and 5.3% absolute risk reduction with a number needed to treat of 19. The 2013 cholesterol guidelines are a relatively efficient approach to reducing ASCVD in untreated, statin-eligible adults who often have concomitant hypertension.