Primary prevention with statins in cardiovascular diseases: A Saudi Arabian perspective

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) constitutes one of the major causes of deaths and disabilities, globally claiming 17.3 million lives a year. Incidence of CVD is expected to rise to 25 million by 2030, and Saudi Arabia, already witnessing a rapid rise in CVDs, is no exception. Statins are the drugs of choice in established CVDs. In the recent past, evidence was increasingly suggesting benefits in primary prevention. But over the last decade Saudi Arabia has a witnessed significant rise in CVD-related deaths. Smoking, high-fat, low-fiber dietary intake, lack of exercise, sedentary life, high blood cholesterol and glucose levels were reported as frequent CVD-risk factors among Saudis, who may therefore be considered for primary prevention with statin. The prevalence of dyslipidemia, in particular, indicates that treatment should be directed at reducing the disorder with lipid-modifying agents and therapeutic lifestyle changes. The recent American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines has reported lowering the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) target levels, prescribed by the 2011 European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS). The new ACC/AHA guidelines have overemphasized the use of statin while ignoring lipid targets, and have recommended primary prevention with moderate-intensity statin to individuals with diabetes aged 40–75 years and with LDL-C 70–189 mg/dL. Treatment with statin was based on estimated 10-year atherosclerotic-CVD (ASCVD) risk in individuals aged 40–75 years with LDL-C 70 to 189 mg/dL and without clinical ASCVD or diabetes. Adoption of the recent ACC/AHA guidelines will lead to inclusion of a large population for primary prevention with statins, and would cause over treatment to some who actually would not need statin therapy but instead should have been recommended lifestyle modifications. Furthermore, adoption of this guideline may potentially increase the incidences of statin intolerance and side-effects. On the other hand, the most widely used lipid management guideline, the 2011 ESC/EAC guidelines, targets lipid levels at different stages of disease activity before recommending statins. Hence, the 2011 ESC/EAC still offers a holistic and pragmatic approach to treating lipid abnormalities in CVD. Therefore, it is the 2011 ESC/EAC guidelines, and not the recent ACC/AHA guidelines, that should be adopted to draw guidance on primary prevention of CVD in Saudi Arabia.