from Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Last year, when the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology published new guidelines about cardiovascular risk there was immediate discussion. That resulted from the suggestion more people should be put on statin medications to lower their risk of heart disease. New research, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology provides some reassurance—that the new guidelines produced only a modest increase in prescription of statins. However, Yale University researchers, when comparing both the old and new guidelines for actual patients, found the new guidelines did a better job of distinguishing between the amount of plaque or blockage in arteries. In patients with greater plaque buildup, ninety-two percent would be assigned statins, but only fifty-three percent under the old guidelines.