A Systematic Review of Lipid Management in Secondary Prevention and Comparison of International Lipid Management Pathways

Acute coronary syndrome remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality despite significant improvements in its prevention and management. Lipid management and other risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking and sedentary lifestyle stratification is the key to minimising this risk. Lipid management is an important part of secondary prevention and patients are historically undertreated after post-acute coronary syndrome. We performed a narrative review on observational studies on lipid management pathways post ACS on PubMed, Google Scholar, Journal Storage and ScienceDirect and excluded case reports, case series and randomized controlled trials. Our review showed that most patients following acute coronary syndrome receive suboptimal treatment for hypercholesterolemia. The role of statin in reducing future cardiac events risk is undisputable, however, statin intolerance remains a major concern. There is substantial variation in the management of lipids in patients following an acute cardiac event and patients were followed up in primary care in some countries and secondary care in others. The mortality risk is significantly high in patients with second or recurrent cardiac events and future cardiac events are associated with higher morbidity and mortality risk. There is significant variation in lipid management pathways in patients who suffer from cardiac events across the globe and lipid therapy optimization remains suboptimal in these patients, putting them at future risk of cardiovascular events. It is therefore imperative to optimally manage dyslipidemia in these patients in order to minimize the risk of subsequent cardiac events. Cardiac rehabilitation programs might be a way forward to incorporate lipid management for patients discharged from the hospital after having acute coronary events for lipid therapy optimization.