Fig. 1.

Flowchart of study population. The flow of the study is described in this section. Among the 2,524,764 individuals who underwent general health checkups in 2009, we identified 2,432,471 individuals without previous ASCVD and no statin medication. They were stratified according to 10-year ASCVD risk (<5 %, 5 %-<7.5 %, 7.5 %-<20 %, and ≥20 %) and LDL cholesterol level (<70, 70–99, 100–129, 130–159, 160–189, and ≥190 mg/dL). ACC/AHA, American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association; ASCVD, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; LDL, low-density lipoprotein.