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- Halcox, Julian P. J., et al.
(author)
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C-reactive protein levels in patients at cardiovascular risk : EURIKA study
- 2014
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In: BMC Cardiovascular Disorders. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2261 .- 1471-2261. ; 14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with high cardiovascular risk, and might identify patients who could benefit from more carefully adapted risk factor management. We have assessed the prevalence of elevated CRP levels in patients with one or more traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: Data were analysed from the European Study on Cardiovascular Risk Prevention and Management in Usual Daily Practice (EURIKA, ClinicalTrials. gov Identifier: NCT00882336), which included patients (aged = 50 years) from 12 European countries with at least one traditional cardiovascular risk factor but no history of cardiovascular disease. Analysis was also carried out on the subset of patients without diabetes mellitus who were not receiving statin therapy. Results: In the overall population, CRP levels were positively correlated with body mass index and glycated haemoglobin levels, and were negatively correlated with high- density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. CRP levels were also higher in women, those at higher traditionally estimated cardiovascular risk and those with greater numbers of metabolic syndrome markers. Among patients without diabetes mellitus who were not receiving statin therapy, approximately 30% had CRP levels >= 3 mg/ L, and approximately 50% had CRP levels = 2 mg/ L, including those at intermediate levels of traditionally estimated cardiovascular risk. Conclusions: CRP levels are elevated in a large proportion of patients with at least one cardiovascular risk factor, without diabetes mellitus who are not receiving statin therapy, suggesting a higher level of cardiovascular risk than predicted according to conventional risk estimation systems.
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- Halcox, Julian P., et al.
(author)
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Low Rates of Both Lipid-Lowering Therapy Use and Achievement of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Targets in Individuals at High-Risk for Cardiovascular Disease across Europe
- 2015
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 10:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims To analyse the treatment and control of dyslipidaemia in patients at high and very high cardiovascular risk being treated for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Europe. Methods and Results Data were assessed from the European Study on Cardiovascular Risk Prevention and Management in Usual Daily Practice (EURIKA, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00882336), which included a randomly sampled population of primary CVD prevention patients from 12 European countries (n = 7641). Patients' 10-year risk of CVD-related mortality was calculated using the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) algorithm, identifying 5019 patients at high cardiovascular risk (SCORE >= 5% and/or receiving lipid-lowering therapy), and 2970 patients at very high cardiovascular risk (SCORE >= 10% or with diabetes mellitus). Among high-risk individuals, 65.3% were receiving lipid-lowering therapy, and 61.3% of treated patients had uncontrolled low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (>= 2.5 mmol/L). For very-high-risk patients (uncontrolled LDL-C levels defined as >= 1.8 mmol/L) these figures were 49.5% and 82.9%, respectively. Excess 10-year risk of CVD-related mortality (according to SCORE) attributable to lack of control of dyslipidaemia was estimated to be 0.72% and 1.61% among high-risk and very-high-risk patients, respectively. Among high-risk individuals with uncontrolled LDL-C levels, only 8.7% were receiving a high-intensity statin (atorvastatin >= 40 mg/day or rosuvastatin >= 20 mg/day). Among very-high-risk patients, this figure was 8.4%. Conclusions There is a considerable opportunity for improvement in rates of lipid-lowering therapy use and achievement of lipid-level targets in high-risk and very-high-risk patients being treated for primary CVD prevention in Europe.
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