Maintenance of Improved Lipid Levels Following Attendance at a Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Clinic: a 10-year Experience

Overview

Journal Vasc Health Risk Manag

Publisher Dove Medical Press

Specialty Cardiology & Vascular Diseases

Date 2009 Feb 3

PMID 19183763

Citations 2

Authors

Glen J Pearson

Kari L Olson

Nicole E Panich

Sumit R Majumdar

Ross T Tsuyuki

Dawna M Gilchrist

Ali Damani

Gordon A Francis

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Specialty cardiovascular risk reduction clinics (CRRC) increase the proportion of patients attaining recommended lipid targets; however, it is not known if the benefits are sustained after discharge. We evaluated the impact of a CRRC on lipid levels and assessed the long-term effect of a CRRC in maintaining improved lipid levels following discharge.

Methods: The medical records of consecutive dyslipidemic patients discharged > 6 months from a tertiary hospital CRRC from January 1991 to January 2001 were retrospectively reviewed. The primary outcome was the change in patients' lipid levels between the final CRRC visit and the most recent primary care follow-up. A worst-case analysis was conducted to evaluate the potential impact of the patients in whom the follow-up lipid profiles post-discharge from the CRRC were not obtained.

Results: Within the CRRC (median follow-up = 1.28 years in 1064 patients), we observed statistically significant improvements in all lipid parameters. In the 411 patients for whom post-discharge lipid profiles were available (median follow-up = 2.41 years), there were no significant differences observed in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, total cholesterol (TC), or triglycerides since CRRC discharge; however, there were small improvements in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and TC:HDL ratio (p < 0.05 for both). The unadjusted worst-case analysis (653 patients with no follow-up lipid profiles) demonstrated statistically significant worsening of all lipid parameters between CRRC discharge and the most recent follow-up. However, when the change in lipid parameters between the baseline and the most recent follow-up was assessed in this analysis, the changes in all lipid parameters were significantly improved (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that a CRRC can improve lipid levels and suggests that these benefits are sustained once patients are returned to the care of their primary physician.

Citing Articles

Prevalence of dyslipidemia and its association with other coronary artery disease risk factors among urban population in Southeast of Iran: results of the Kerman coronary artery disease risk factors study (KERCADRS).

Najafipour H, Shokoohi M, Yousefzadeh G, Sarvar Azimzadeh B, Moshtaghi Kashanian G, Bagheri M J Diabetes Metab Disord. 2016; 15:49.

PMID: 27777902 PMC: 5073446. DOI: 10.1186/s40200-016-0268-0.

Lipid clinics are urgently required in the Iranian public health system.

Ghayour-Mobarhan M, Kazemi-Bajestani S, Ferns G Int J Prev Med. 2011; 1(3):172-5.

PMID: 21566787 PMC: 3075527.

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