Implications of the New US Cholesterol Guidelines in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

Background: The new US guidelines for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease have substantially changed the approach to hyperlipidemia treatment. However, the impact of those recommendations in other populations is limited. In the present study, we evaluated the potential implications of those recommendations in the Brazilian population.

Recommendations for the management of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), characterized by congenitally elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, is estimated to affect 20 million people worldwide. In patients with heterozygous FH, coronary artery disease manifests in about half of men by age 50 and one third of women by age 60, while homozygous FH patients often suffer coronary events in the first or second decade of life. Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment are paramount.

Interplay of coronary artery calcification and traditional risk factors for the prediction of all-cause mortality in asymptomatic individuals.

Background: Current guidelines recommend the use of coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring for intermediate-risk patients; however, the potential role of CAC among individuals who have no risk factors (RFs) is less established. We sought to examine the relationship between the presence and burden of traditional RFs and CAC for the prediction of all-cause mortality.

Methods And Results: The study cohort consisted of 44,052 consecutive asymptomatic individuals free of known coronary heart disease referred for computed tomography for the assessment of CAC.