PITTSBURGH, Sept. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the National Lipid Association (NLA) published its Part Two Recommendations based on a panel of independent experts, available now on the Journal of Clinical Lipidology website.
Part Two of the NLA Recommendations reinforce the importance of lifestyle changes as the cornerstone of therapy in cholesterol management, and provide new detailed advice for specific changes in diet, dietary patterns and the amount of physical activity and exercise required for cardiovascular health.
In addition, the recommendations highlight the importance of managing atherogenic cholesterol levels in special populations, including diverse ethnic and racial groups such as African Americans, Hispanics and South Asians, throughout the life span from children to seniors, including women from pregnancy to menopause, and other conditions associated with increased cardiovascular risk, including HIV disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
Additional highlights from the recommendations include these:
- After lifestyle therapy, statins remain the drug therapy of choice for those with increased cardiovascular risk conditions, including HIV/AIDS and rheumatoid arthritis, and those at risk based on ethnicity or race, such as African Americans and South Asians.
- Increased rates of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes in ethnic and racial minorities are of great concern, and aggressive efforts in lifestyle control are needed to combat this growing public health problem.
- Atherosclerosis often begins early in life and progresses for decades, so reducing atherogenic cholesterol in younger individuals such as children and adolescents is important for long-term cardiovascular health.
- Given the importance of adherence to both lifestyle therapies and lipid-lowering medication, the NLA advocates: 1) discussion of adherence at each patient visit to identify problems, barriers or side effects of therapy; 2) continuous feedback to patients about their non-HDL-C and LDL cholesterol levels and goals of these lipoproteins and 3) the incorporation, whenever possible, of an interdisciplinary team of healthcare providersincluding nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, physician assistants and registered dietitian nutritioniststo assist patients with adherence issues.
- For high-risk patients not at their atherogenic cholesterol goals while on a maximally tolerated statin dose, consideration should be given to adding non-statin lipid-altering therapies (e.g., ezetimibe) for further lowering of atherogenic cholesterol.
The NLA Recommendations are meant to serve as a guide for healthcare providers in the diagnosis and treatment of lipid disorders and are intended to provide additional expert guidance to currently available guidelines for the treatment of high blood cholesterol. The recommendations are also intended to assist clinicians in patient management in areas that have not been addressed in previous guidelines. The final version of Part Two is now published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology (JCL).
“The NLA Part Two Recommendations build on our previous NLA Recommendations Part One,” said Dr. Carl Orringer, MD, president, National Lipid Association and associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “We are excited to provide a comprehensive set of recommendations in the management of lipid and lipoprotein-related cardiovascular risk that may aid clinicians and patients in making better clinical decisions using a patient-centered approach.”
For more information and tools related to the NLA Recommendations, visit lipid.org/recommendations.
About the National Lipid Association
The NLA is a multidisciplinary specialty society focused on prevention of cardiovascular disease and other lipid-related disorders. The NLA’s mission is to enhance the practice of lipid management in clinical medicine; its central objective is to enhance efforts to reduce death and disability related to disorders of lipid metabolism in patients. Members include physicians (MDs and DOs), as well as allied health clinical team members, including PhD researchers, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, exercise physiologists and dietitians.
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To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-national-lipid-association-publishes-part-two-of-its-recommendations-for-patient-centered-management-of-dyslipidemia-300145544.html
SOURCE National Lipid Association
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