Diagnosing and Treating High Cholesterol

Now let’s explore how to diagnose and treat the other common risk factor associated with ASCVD: High-blood cholesterol.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recently released new guidelines for the use of statin therapy in reducing ASCVD risk in adults. The new guidelines are informed by recent research showing that, in addition to LDL cholesterol levels, baseline 10-year ASCVD risk is another strong predictor of the success of statin therapy. Consequently, ASVD risk should be used in conjunction with LDL-C levels to guide clinical decisions pertaining to statin therapy.

The guidelines provide four criteria for identifying patients who should receive statin therapy. Click on the thumbnail graphics to the right to learn the four criteria.

  Who Should Receive Statin Therapy?