YOUNGER adults are being shortchanged in the treatment of their hyperlipidaemia by being refused statin therapy when indicated, according to findings published in JAMA Cardiology.
University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center lead researcher David Zidar and his team tracked rates of statin prescriptions in people screened for dyslipidemia.
The team examined data on 2,884,260 patients over a three-year period at 360 medical centers with patients aged 20 to 75 years.
Significantly, 34% of those with severe dyslipidemia were not prescribed a statin while 25% of patients with even more severe LDL levels (>250 mg/dL) were also denied the standard therapy.
The younger the patient, the less likely they were to get a statin.
Two thirds of US adults with severe dyslipidemia take statins but only 45% of those aged under 40 are prescribed the drug.
"We see these differences in prescription rates and for the group that seems to have a treatment gap, you could argue this is the group that's most important as it's a disease that's genetic and can lead to premature heart disease," Zidar said.
He added it was important to define and manage what factors were driving the treatment gap.
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