High-Intensity Cardiovascular Risk Factor–Reduction Therapies in High-Risk Patients

U.S. researchers explored use of recommended risk factor–reduction therapies in 325,000 patients (mean age, 68) with diabetes and known cardiovascular disease (CVD) who were identified from an integrated database of 12 large healthcare systems. Presence of CVD was defined as any diagnosis or procedure relevant to coronary artery, cerebrovascular, or peripheral vascular disease. Records were assessed for use of a high-intensity statin (atorvastatin 40–80 mg/day or rosuvastatin 20–40 mg/day), an angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB), and a sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor or glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist.

More than half of patients were prescribed a statin, but o…