Causes of failure to achieve the low density lipoprotein cholesterol therapeutic target in patients with high and very high vascular risk controlled in Lipid and Vascular Risk Units. EROMOT study

Objectives To determine the extent to which low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) therapeutic targets are achieved in patients with high and very high vascular risk treated in lipid units, and the reasons why these targets are not met. Patients and method Observational and retrospective multi-centre study. Patients over the age of 18 with high or very high vascular risk according to the criteria set forth by the 2012 European guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention who were consecutively referred to lipid units between January and June 2012 and with follow-up two years after the first visit were included. Results 243 patients from 16 lipid units were enrolled. The mean age was 52.2 years (SD 13.7) and 62.6% of the patients were male. 40.3% were classified as very high risk. At the first visit, 86.8% were on lipid-lowering treatment (25.1% on combination therapy), which rose to 95.0% at the second visit (47.3% on combination therapy) (p Conclusions LDL-C therapeutic targets were achieved in around one third of patients. Patient non-adherence, followed by clinical inertia, are the primary causes that could explain these results.