Temporal Trends in Statin Prescriptions and Residual Cholesterol Risk in Patients With Stable Coronary Artery Disease Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Intensive low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction with statins is recommended after elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We aimed to evaluate adherence to guideline-recommended statin therapy (GRST) and the rate of residual cholesterol risk (RCR) at follow-up after elective PCI. All patients who underwent elective PCI between January 2010 and May 2016 were prospectively included in this single-center study. GRST was defined as high-intensity statin (HIS) therapy for patients ≤75 years old and moderate-intensity statin (MIS) or HIS therapy for patients75 years. RCR at follow-up was defined as50% decrease in LDL-C with HIS or30% with MIS for statin-naïve patients and as LDL-C70 mg/dL for nonstatin-naïve patients. A total of 2,653 patients were included, with 1,304 (49.2%) discharged with GRST. There was a significant increase in the number of patients discharged with GRST over time from 44.2% in 2010 to 63.0% in 2016 (p0.001). Conversely, RCR at follow-up was present in 1,120 patients (42.2%) overall and remained stable over time. Risk factors of RCR at follow-up were female gender (odds ratio [OR]: 1.38; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13 to 1.70), previous myocardial infarction (OR: 1.37; 95% CI 1.12 to 1.64), smoking (OR: 1.30; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.67), higher LDL-C level at baseline (OR: 1.22; 95% CI 1.18 to 1.25). The presence of RCR was associated with an increased adjusted risk of death within 1 year of the second LDL-C measurement (adjHR: 2.78; 95% CI 1.15 to 6.67). In conclusion, although the rate of GRST at discharge has improved significantly over time in patients who underwent elective PCI, the prevalence of RCR at follow-up has not changed appreciably suggesting that further implementation of guidelines as well as novel or more intensive pharmacotherapy may be warranted.