Lipid disorders

Cardiovascular medications are widely-prescribed in the US. Alex Evans, PharmD, MBA, drafted questions on the top 5 dangerous interactions he sees regularly in practice.

The 2019 ACC/AHA guidelines on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease could change your clinical practice. Try these 9 questions to find out how.

Bempedoic acid is the first oral, once-daily, non-statin cholesterol lowering medication to receive FDA approval since 2002.

Dyslipidemia guidelines from the US and Europe take slightly different routes to similar ends. Test your knowledge of the twists and turns.

The European and American guidelines on dyslipidemia management overlap but also diverge in critical ways. A Johns Hopkins cardiologist highlights similarities and differences.

Test your knowledge of the key elements and outcomes of the highly buzzed about REDUCE-IT trial with this 5-question quiz.

Eighty percent of all cardiovascular events are preventable. The ACC/AHA 2019 guidelines are a single source of best practices to help achieve that goal. Review them here, at-a-glance.

To manage cholesterol in your patients, it still helps to know your numbers, new guidelines notwithstanding. Here, 8 simple questions that take you back to basics.

Treatment rates for dangerously high cholesterol levels remain low, according to a new study. 

Routine fasting for cholesterol tests could be eliminated by adopting a newer method for determining LDL cholesterol, according to a new study. 

Cardioprotective effects of omega-3 fatty acids accrue over multiple risk factors; the higher the Omega-3 Index, the lower the risk of mortality.

The consequences of elevated triglycerides range from xanthomas to CVD. Here, a primer on the mechanism of omega-3 fatty acid therapy.

Which CVD biomarker is most useful in what situation? Here are the top 5 most useful in primary care plus 3 key criteria to help choose the right one. 

Professional groups disagree on the need for universal lipid screening in pediatrics. Where do you stand?

Although results of the hypertension portion of HOPE-3 were disappointing, many caveats are offered to explain the outcome.

“Lower is better” regardless of the lipid-lowering agent used, publication confirms.

The patient drove himself to the ED after experiencing symptoms while playing basketball. He has a history of anxiety, but is this more than a case of nerves over a missed foul shot?

Be alert for the pitfalls in ECG interpretation of ACS. An initial tracing can be normal in about 10% of cases, even during chest pain. Nonspecific changes occur in another 5% to 15% of cases.

Recommendations from the American Diabetes Association also suggest a less stringent diastolic blood pressure target, all in keeping with recent changes in cardiovascular risk management guidelines.

Eruptive xanthomas; smooth-shaped, deeply placed nodules; a solitary itchy patch . . . how much do you know about these and 2 other disorders?

The exact mechanism responsible for this effect is still open for debate. A salutatory side effect of the news may be the impact on medication adherence among men with both elevated LDL-C and erectile dysfunction.

The real impact of nutritious menu changes at fast food chains like McDonalds remains to be seen, but these-along with modifying the dosage schedules of patients who appear to be statin-intolerant-may prove to have long-term salubrious effects.

Vitamin D supplementation in the VitDISH study did not improve isolated systolic hypertension in elderly patients who were deficient.

Smoking can increase cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL while decreasing HDL.

Although this study did not show benefits for heart disease, it has shown that weight loss improves many other health problems.

Test your clinical skills in this week’s 5-question quiz.

Colesevelam helps reduce serum glucose levels and also lowers LDL-C in patients with type 2 diabetes. Bromocriptine reduces the relative risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Every-other-day dosing, especially of statins with longer half-lives is shown to preserve lipid-lowering benefits.

Barriers to the use of statins-the most potent medicine currently available in the fight against atherosclerotic heart disease-are both real and perceived.

Lp(a) is an LDL-like particle that exists in plasma in the VLDL range; its density lies between that of LDL and HDL. Lp(a) increases CV risk.