Long-Term Association between Intensive Medical Treatment and the Incidence of Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients with Dyslipidemia: an Observational Study

INTRODUCTION: The management of patients with dyslipidemia (DLP) requires intensive medical follow-up as an essential part of treatment and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether adherence to medical treatment changed the prevalence of CV disease events in a retrospective 7-year follow-up analysis. METHODS: This retrospective study involved 92 patients divided into two groups according to their adherence: the REG group with 64 patients who had medical appointments from 2012 to 2018, and the DROP group, with 28 patients who had medical appointments in 2012 but did not complete regular appointments until 2018. Cox proportional hazard models were fitted to estimate hazard ratios associated with CV outcomes as primary endpoints. RESULTS: We observed a total of 32 cases of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the study population, 17 (338.41 pY) in the REG group and 15 (62.97 pY) in the DROP group. An increased hazard of AMIs was observed in the DROP group compared with the REG group by follow-up time (p < 0.001). We found that previous events of AMI and congestive heart failure (CHF) were associated with progression to treatment dropout (p < 0.05) and that two drugs were considered a risk factor for treatment dropout, diuretics and fibrates (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A reduced hazard of AMI was observed in patients who complete a greater number of medical appointments and receive multidisciplinary treatment on a regular basis.