'A missed opportunity': Statin use low among patients with peripheral artery disease
Statin use is lower among patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) than it is among those with cerebrovascular disease or coronary heart disease (CHD), according to new findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Recent guidelines crafted by the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and several other medical societies recommended statin use for patients with any of the three vascular conditions, the authors noted.
“Patients with PAD are recommended to take a statin,” wrote lead author Lisandro D. Colantonio, MD, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues. “However, prior studies suggest that the use of statin therapy may be lower among patients with PAD versus their counterparts with CHD or cerebrovascular disease. If the risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) events is high among patients with PAD, but the use of statin therapy is low, this would constitute a gap in care and missed opportunity for ASCVD risk reduction in this population.”
Researchers tracked more than 943,000 adult patients who had a history of PAD, cerebrovascular disease or CHD as of Dec. 31, 2014. Patients were followed for ASCVD events until Dec. 31, 2017. All patients were covered by either commercial health insurance or Medicare.
Overall, the team found that 33.9% of patients with only PAD were taking statins. The numbers were considerably higher for patients with cerebrovascular disease only (43%) and CHD only (51.7%) despite the fact that ASCVD event rates were similar between the three conditions. Also, as one might expect, the risk of experiencing an ASCVD event increased when patients had one or more of the three conditions.
“Taken together, results from the current study support the need for intensive ASCVD risk-reduction interventions, including statin therapy, among patients with a history of PAD,” the authors concluded.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.