Clinical Characteristics of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Patients and Familial Hypercholesterolemia Patients: A Database Analysis in the US. †

Abstract

Lead Author's Financial Disclosures Divyagiri Seshagiri is an employee of Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. Study Funding None. Background/Synopsis Despite current lipid-lowering treatments (LLT), patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) do not reach the current guidelines recommended LDL-C goal. Objective/Purpose To describe the clinical characteristics of patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with hypercholesterolemia (ASCVD-H) and familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) in the United States (US). Methods This retrospective non-interventional study included patients from Optum's de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart database (2007-2019) in the US. Hypercholesterolemia was defined if patients had a recorded diagnosis, were prescribed LLT or had LDL-C levels of ≥70 mg/dL for ASCVD or ≥100mg/dL for FH, anytime within 6 months before and 3 months after index date. Index date was first ASCVD encounter or FH diagnosis during the identification period (1/07/2015-31/12/2018). Results 1,817,577 patients with ASCVD-H (50% females) and 66,277 patients with FH (53.6% females) with a mean (SD) age of 71 (11) years and 63 (18) years, respectively, were included. Use of statins was reported in 60% (ASCVD-H) and 49% (FH) patients at index, while 38% (ASCVD-H) and 48% (FH) patients received no LLT at index. Only 39% (ASCVD-H) and 43% (FH) patients receiving statins had LDL-C measurements within 6 months before and 3 months after index date. Higher proportion of male patients had controlled LDL-C levels than female patients across both cohorts (Table 1). Conclusions About 60% of ASCVD-H and FH patients did not have LDL-C measurements. More than one third of ASCVD-H patients and almost half of FH patients received no LLT. A substantial proportion of patients remain uncontrolled with LDL-C levels ≥70 mg/dL despite receiving LLT. Divyagiri Seshagiri is an employee of Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland.