International Atherosclerosis Society Position Paper: Global Recommendations for the Management of Dyslipidemia

Abstract

I am proud to announce the completion of a new and important International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS) Position Paper entitled ‘‘Global Recommendations for the Management of Dyslipidemia’’. This paper has been developed as an aid to the management of the dyslipidemia that is driving a worldwide epidemic of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The position paper is the result of more than a year of deliberations by a group of international experts led by Scott Grundy. Members of this group are listed at the end of this editorial. These experts were representatives of many different regions of the world. Questions relating to lifestyle and drug management of dyslipidemia were addressed in an iterative process that culminated in a final draft that was provided to the IAS Executive Committee for comment and suggestion. This final draft was also shared with IAS member societies for comment and ratification. Many of our member societies provided valuable feedback with suggestions that were incorporated into the final version of the document. This IAS Position Paper provides background rationale, panel deliberations, and IAS recommendations. It reviews existing evidence-based recommendations and consolidates them into an overall set of recommendations. These recommendations aremeant to inform clinical judgment and not to replace it. The report is divided into primary and secondary prevention. For secondary prevention, priority is given to randomized, controlled clinical trials (RCTs) because of a wealth of data. For primary prevention, RCT evidence is