Many High Risk Patients Do Not Receive
Cholesterol-Lowering Therapies
ATLANTA, GA, March 14, 2006 -- New insights into medical treatment of high blood pressure,
including a review of the extent of care for patients in need and the potential value of newer
therapies, are among the topics of studies presented today at the American College of Cardiology’s
55th Annual Scientific Session. ACC.06 is the premier cardiovascular medical meeting, bringing
together over 30,000 cardiologists to further breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine.
Are High-Risk Hypertensive Patients Prescribed Concomitant Statin Therapy?
Prescription Patterns
in Patients Initiating Antihypertensive Therapy in the United States (Abstract 1021-251)
Studies show that patients with high blood pressure and other cardiac risk factors, including
high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes, can benefit from cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.
However, it is believed that many of these high-risk patients do not receive these potentially lifesaving
drugs. Researchers at ValueMedics Research in Virginia examined how frequently high-risk
patients were prescribed statins during the first year of treatment for high blood pressure in a U.S.
managed care setting.
PharMetrics’ Patient-Centric Database, a proprietary, anonymous database which contains
medical and pharmaceutical claims from members in more than 75 health plans across the United
States, was used to identify patients aged 25 years or older who began treatment for high blood
pressure between September 2001 and February 2004. Within this group of newly treated
hypertensive patients, statin use was evaluated in patients with high cholesterol, established heart
disease and diabetes, as well as in patients with no heart disease but three or more risk factors for
heart disease, such as being greater than 55 years old or a history of stroke.
A total of 142,389 patients meeting these criteria were included in the study. About 30
percent (43,825 pts) had been diagnosed with high cholesterol, but less than one-fifth (17.3 percent)
were already on statin therapy when they started treatment for high blood pressure and only a third
(29.4 percent) began taking statins in the first year. More than half of these patients – 53.3 percent –
received no statin therapy at all during the first year after starting hypertension medication.
In the group of patients who had high blood pressure and established heart disease (14,647
patients), just 11.5 percent were on statin therapy already, with an additional 30.9 percent starting
during the first year. Yet again, more than half (57.6 percent) of this group did not receive a statin.
Similarly, for the study populations with diabetes (17,567 patients) and with 3 or more heart disease
risk factors (15,701 patients), the majority did not receive a statin in the first year (61 percent and
53.7 percent, respectively).
"While research demonstrates that statin therapy could benefit hypertension patients who have
other cardiac risk factors, the majority of these patients were not receiving cholesterol-lowering statin
drugs," said Richard H. Chapman, Ph.D., of ValueMedics Research and lead author of the study.
"Statins are the standard of care for this group of patients, and they should be prescribed along with
antihypertensive therapy. Failing to do so may restrict patients’ access to potentially life-saving
treatment."
Source: American College of Cardiology |
