Does clinician-reported lipid guideline adoption translate to guideline-adherent care? An evaluation of the Patient and Provider Assessment of Lipid Management (PALM) registry

Angela Lowenstern, Shuang Li, Ann Marie Navar, Salim Virani, L. Veronica Lee, Michael J. Louie, Eric D. Peterson, Tracy Y. Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: The 2013 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) cholesterol guideline recommends statin treatment based on patients' predicted atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk. Whether clinician-reported guideline adoption translates to implementation into practice is unknown. Objectives: We aimed to compare clinician lipid management in hypothetical scenarios versus observed practice. Methods: The PALM Registry asked 774 clinicians how they would treat 4 hypothetical scenarios of primary prevention patients with: (1) diabetes; (2) high 10-year ASCVD risk (≥7.5%) with high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C; ≥130 mg/dL); (3) low 10-year ASCVD risk (<7.5%) with high LDL-C (130–189 mg/dL); or (4) primary and secondary prevention patients with persistently elevated LDL-C (≥130 mg/dL) despite high-intensity statin use. We assessed agreement between clinician survey responses and observed practice. Results: In primary prevention scenarios, 85% of clinicians reported they would prescribe a statin to a diabetic patient and 93% to a high-risk/high LDL-C patient (both indicated by guidelines), while 40% would prescribe statins to a low-risk/high LDL-C patient. In clinical practice, statin prescription rates were 68% for diabetic patients, 40% for high-risk/high LDL-C patients, and 50% for low-risk/high LDL-C patients. Agreement between hypothetical and observed practice was 64%, 39%, and 52% for patients with diabetes, high-risk/high LDL-C, and low-risk/high LDL-C, respectively. Among patients with persistently high LDL-C despite high-intensity statin treatment, 55% of providers reported they would add a non-statin lipid-lowering medication, while only 22% of patients were so treated. Conclusions: While the majority of clinicians report adoption of the 2013 ACC/AHA guideline recommendations, observed lipid management decisions in practice are frequently discordant.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)118-124
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican heart journal
Volume200
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2018
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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