Large-scale drugs intervention trials have proven that cholesterol-lowering
therapy reduces the risk of coronary events in a wide range of at-risk pat
ient groups. This has led to a growing consensus that plasma total and low-
density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) should be reduced to target levels
that have been shown in population studies to be associated with low rates
of coronary heart disease (CHD). Despite this consensus, however, a substan
tial proportion of patients at high coronary risk still do not receive lipi
d-lowering therapy. Furthermore, of those patients receiving therapy, many
do not achieve the recommended targets. In order to address this problem, s
everal treatment-to-target studies have been conducted to determine whether
recommended targets are attainable with the lipid-lowering drugs that are
currently available. These studies have confirmed that the statins are able
to achieve recommended target levels in the majority of patients at risk.
The studies have also demonstrated that most patients achieve a total chole
sterol target with atorvastatin. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All
rights reserved.