Revista portuguesa de cardiologia : orgao oficial da Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia = Portuguese journal of cardiology : an official journal of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology | 2021
Heaven can wait… for lipid control in very high cardiovascular risk patients.
Abstract
Despite efforts to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), it remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide, and Portugal is no exception. Atherosclerosis is the most common underlying pathophysiological process in CVD. More than half of the reduction in cardiovascular (CV) mortality in the last three decades has been attributed to population-level changes in CV risk factors, primarily reductions in cholesterol and blood pressure levels and smoking. The burden of atherosclerosis, using the Global Burden of Disease methodology to quantify the economic impact of atherosclerosis in Portugal by estimating disease-related costs, concludes that atherosclerosis has a major economic impact, being responsible for health expenditure equivalent to 1% of Portuguese gross domestic product and 11% of current health expenditure in 2016, which demonstrates the persistent burden of this disease. There is a large evidence base, supported by clinical trials, for the use of statins as lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) for the prevention of further cardiovascular events, and