Metabolic and inflammatory risk reduction in response to lipid-lowering and lifestyle modification in the medically underserved individuals.

Introduction: Medically underserved (US) populations have an increased level of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk, however, few studies investigated ASCVD risk reduction in US.

Methods: Of 217 subjects with ApoB ≥120 mg/dL and carotid atherosclerosis (≥15% stenosis by ultrasound) enrolled in the Carotid Plaque Composition by MRI (CPC) study between 2005 and 2011, US (n=33) was defined as those without adequate healthcare insurance, while AS (n=184) included those with adequate healthcare coverage. All subjects received atorvastatin-based lipid therapies and lifestyle intervention for 2 years.