Table 1.
Characteristics of US Adults Aged 40 to 75 and Eligible for Targeted Primary Prevention With Statin Therapya, by Baseline 10‐Year ASCVD Risk and Expected ARR From Moderate‐Intensity Statins
| Characteristic | Baseline Riskb <7.5% | Baseline Riskb >7.5% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expected ARRb <2.3% | Expected ARRb >2.3% | Expected ARRb <2.3% | Expected ARRb >2.3% | |
| N in US populationc, in millions | 49.3 | 8.4 | 0.07 | 17.8 |
| % of US populationd | 22 | 4 | 0.03 | 8 |
| Baseline riskb, % | ||||
| Min to Max | 0.06 to 7.2 | 3.9 to 7.5 | 7.5 to 8.4 | 7.5 to 35 |
| Median (interquartile range) | 1.5 (0.9–2.9) | 6.2 (5.1–6.9) | 8.4 (7.5–8.4) | 11 (9.4–16) |
| Expected ARR, % | ||||
| Min to Max | 0.5 to 2.3 | 2.3 to 4.1 | 1.85 to 1.95 | 2.3 to 9.2 |
| Median (interquartile range) | 0.8 (0.5–1.4) | 2.7 (2.5–3.1) | 1.9 (1.85–1.95) | 4.4 (3.7–5.3) |
| Age, mean years±SD | 48±6 | 56±7 | 57±2 | 62±8 |
| Sex, % male | 35 | 45 | 100 | 72 |
| Systolic blood pressureb, mean mm Hg±SD | 118±13 | 127±21 | 126±6 | 131±17 |
| Total cholesterol, mean mg/dL±SD | 200±34 | 223±32 | 139±6 | 213±31 |
| LDL cholesterol, currenta, mean mg/dL±SD | 120±30 | 141±24 | 64±1.0 | 130±28 |
| HDL cholesterol, mean mg/dL±SD | 56±15 | 54±16 | 54±12 | 52±16 |
| Smoking, % current | 12 | 34 | 0 | 31 |
| Current blood pressure medication use, % | 17 | 24 | 61 | 49 |
| Diabetes mellitusa, % | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Current statin usea, % | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prevalent ASCVDa, % | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
ARR indicates absolute risk reduction; ASCVD, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; HDL, high‐density lipoprotein; LDL, low‐density lipoprotein; Max, maximum; Min, minimum; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Statin, HMG Co‐A reductase inhibitor.
NHANES participants younger than 40 years, older than 75 years, with LDL ≥190 mg/dL, with diabetes mellitus, with previous cardiovascular disease, or already on a statin are excluded from this analysis.
Baseline risk is defined as 10‐year risk of ASCVD, estimated according to the 2013 Guideline2; expected ARR is the expected absolute risk reduction from moderate‐intensity statin therapy, as formulated by Thanassoulis et al3 see Methods.
US population estimates are calculated from the Ns in NHANES. Ns for columns 1 to 4 in the 10‐fold imputed data set were 4725, 879, 30, and 2297, respectively; these Ns were divided by 10 to correct for the 10‐fold imputation and then multiplied by the sample weights provided by NHANES.
US population % estimates use US population estimates‡ as the numerator, and all US adults in the denominator, such that the total % adds up to 34% (total % eligible for targeted primary prevention*) rather than 100%. Note: All subsequent results describe only eligible persons* and use this as the denominator (so that %s add up to 100%) and are also weighted using sample weights.