Cardiovascular prevention: Frontiers in lipid guidelines

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains one of the principal causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. International guidelines are being updated to take into account new evidence and improved health economics as drug patents expire. Recent studies have investigated the best lipid fractions to predict CVD, suggested additional CVD risk factors and a potential role for novel biomarkers while big data approaches have allowed improvements to be made to CVD risk calculators. The increasing availability of next generation sequencing is allowing systematic efforts to be made to detect monogenic familial hypercholesterolaemia. Previous trials have validated the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) hypothesis of atherosclerosis. Statins now form part of universal treatment advice for CVD and trial data on ezetimibe also suggests it has a place in the treatment pathway. New data has been published on novel lipid-lowering therapies such as proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 inhibitors but the role of these expensive drugs has yet to be fully settled and a diversity of approaches exists between guidelines. The role of lipid fractions outside LDL-C is unclear. There will be challenges in incorporating new non-linear data on omega-3 fatty acids that not only affect triglycerides but more directly CVD.