Standards of statin usage in Poland in high-risk patients: 3ST-POL study results.

Background: According to epidemiological studies, dyslipidaemia is the commonest risk factor of atherosclerosis in the Polish population. It is estimated that 18 million adult Poles are affected by dyslipidaemia.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of the statin therapy in high-risk Polish outpatients.

Methods: The 3ST-POL study involved 49,950 Polish outpatients. The enrolled patients met the following inclusion criteria: age between 40 and 85 years and a history of a minimum three months of statin therapy. A full lipid profile was screened in each patient; 72% of all subjects were high-risk patients.

Results: Among the patients in the 3ST-POL study, women represented 53%, and the mean age was 59.5 ± 10.8 years. Patients were treated by: general practitioners (GPs) 78.95%; diabetologists 5.02%; and cardiologists 16.03%. The most frequently used statins were atorvastatin and simvastatin. The most common dose was 20 mg/24 h. In the high-risk population, the lowest recommended total cholesterol (TC) concentration was achieved in 3.7% of treated subjects, whereas 5.6% of patients attained LDL < 80 mg/dL (2.0 mmol/L). 9.5% of patients did not exceed the upper limit of normal values for TC (155-175 mg/dL; 4.0-4.5 mmol/L) and 12.6% of patients reached LDL between 80-100 mg/dL (2.0-2.5 mmol/L). Subjects under the cardiologists' and diabetologists' care more often reached the recommended TC concentration (TC < 175 mg/dL; TC < 4.5 mmol/dL) and the difference was statistically important.

Conclusions: This partial efficacy in dyslipidaemia control is not satisfactory.