Cost-Effectiveness of Statins for Primary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease

Scientists use a new model to quantify the costs of implementing ATP III guidelines and to compare these costs with those of other strategies.

The Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III), updated in 2004, provides recommendations on the use of statins for primary prevention of coronary heart disease. The guidelines employ an algorithm that combines patients’ cholesterol levels and their estimated risks for CHD to determine who should receive statins. These investigators used population-sized projections of CHD trends in the U.S. to estimate the impact of fully implementing the ATP III guidelines among people aged 35 to 85, with varying assumptions and in comparison with other strategies for determining appropriateness of statin treatment.

Complete adherence to the ATP III guidelines would entail initiating statin therapy in an estimated 9.7 million adults and increasing the intensity o…

Reviewing Author

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Joel M. Gore, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNIH–National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Cost-Effectiveness of Statins for Primary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease

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Reviewing Author