Objective: Evaluate treatment practices and their outcomes in Thai patients with hyperlipidemia. The factors contributing to success of treatment were also determined.
Material and method: A multi-center cross-sectional survey with the support of 98 physicians from 48 hospitals was done. Each physician enrolled up to 20 dyslipidemic patients by simple randomization.
Results: One thousand nine hundred twenty one cases, 45.1% males with a mean age of 58.6 years (SD = 9.6) were recruited. The patients were divided into three groups: 1,178 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and CHD equivalents, 424 patients with high risk, and 319 patients with low risk. The main targets for treatment were LDL-C levels of< 100, < 130 and < 160 mg/dL for each respective group. As a whole, the risk factors listed in order of frequency were age at risk (78%), hypertension (69. 8%), diabetes mellitus (43.6%), smoking (24.6%), and family history of CHD (6.9%). Obesity (body mass index > or = 25 kg/m2) was found in 53.8% of the patients. Twenty eight percent of the patients experienced CHD or other atherosclerotic diseases. Statin was the commonest prescribed drug (64%) followed by fibrate (25%). The overall success rate was 46.5%. Percentage of cases achieving LDL-C targets in the CHD and CHD equivalents, high and low risk group was 34.6%, 56.4%, and 76.8%, respectively. The patients in the low risk group, being under specialist care and receiving statin therapy reached target of treatment at a significantly higher rate.
Conclusion: The present study showed that statin was the most common drug used in the management of hyperlipidemia. Patients with CHD and CHD equivalents were the group with least achievement of LDL-C target. The factors contributing to achievement of LDL-C target were lower risk patient, specialist care, and statin therapy.