Updated Cholesterol Guidelines: Consider Lower LDL Targets in Patients at High Risk

LDL-cholesterol goals still are 130-160 mg/dL for low- or intermediate-risk patients, but high-risk patients might warrant very aggressive cholesterol-lowering therapy, with targets as low as 70 mg/dL.

The National Cholesterol Education Panel (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel III published its recommendations in 2001. Since then, results from several large clinical trials on lipid management have been published. The NCEP Coordinating Committee (most of the members of the working group report some financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry) now has reviewed these studies and has issued a report on their implications for clinical practice. Salient features include these points:

Therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) remain a cornerstone of lipid management. Moreover, people at high risk (i.e., established coronary heart disease, CHD equivalents, or multiple risk factors and 10-year risk >20%) or moderately high risk (two or more risk factors and …

Reviewing Author

Kirsten E. Fleischmann, MD, MPH