CHOLESTEROL MANAGEMENT IN GENERAL-PRACTICE

Ninety general practitioners from the Fylde coast of Lancashire respon ded to a questionnaire regarding lipid management, revealing that only 22% aim for a target total cholesterol of less than or equal to 5.2 m mol/l in patients with established ischaemic heart disease. One third are reassessing the cholesterol in these patients at yearly intervals or less frequently, and 36% select 65 years or less as the upper age l imit for screening. Approximately 50% of GPs screen for hypercholester olaemia in patients with cerebral or peripheral vascular disease. Prim ary screening and treatment of hypercholesterolaemia within the 'at ri sk' asymptomatic population is well established with 72% of GPs screen ing hypertensives, 88% screening diabetics and almost all screening pa tients with an adverse family history, but the therapeutic cholesterol targets vary widely between individual practitioners.