Table 3.
Physician Questionnaire (n=113)
| Lipid Management Goals | |
|---|---|
| LDL‐C goal to achieve with cholesterol‐lowering therapy | |
| <50 mg/dL | 4.5% (5/112) |
| <70 mg/dL | 68.8% (77/112) |
| <100 mg/dL | 10.7% (12/112) |
| <130 mg/dL | 0.9% (1/112) |
| It depends on patient's other risk factors | 8.9% (10/112) |
| Do not use LDL‐C goals | 6.3% (7/112) |
| Choice for patients with very low LDL‐C | |
| Make no change to lipid‐lowering therapy | 49.1% (54/110) |
| Reduce, discontinue, or change the lipid‐lowering medication intensity | 50.9% (56/110) |
| How strong is the scientific evidence supporting the use of high‐intensity statins vs low/moderate‐intensity statins among patients with ASCVD? | |
| Very strong | 43.6% (48/110) |
| Strong | 34.5% (38/110) |
| Moderate | 20.0% (22/110) |
| Weak/very weak | 1.8% (2/110) |
| Barriers to Lipid Control | |
|---|---|
| Frequently discuss adherence issues (most or always) | 85.6% (95/111) |
| % of patients with statins experience side effects (mean±SD) | 19.5%±13.2 |
| Among patients who have muscle pain or aches while taking statins, what % do you think is due to statin? (mean±SD) | 34.6%±23.9 |
| Most common reason for nonadherence to statin | |
| Patients don't believe the medication works | 66.4% (75/113) |
| Patients can't afford the medication | 8.8% (10/113) |
| Patients experienced side effects | 0.9% (1/113) |
| Patients don't like taking medications | 16.8% (19/113) |
| Other | 7.1% (8/113) |
| Frequency of actions when a patient with ASCVD reports side effects while taking statins (most or all of the time) | |
| Down‐titrate intensity | 38.4% (43/112) |
| Give the patient 2 to 4 wk without statins and then re‐challenge them | 37.5% (42/112) |
| Discontinue treatment | 1.8% (2/112) |
| Educate patients on the importance of statins | 86.6% (97/112) |
| Switch statin type | 43.8% (49/112) |
| Advise patients to take the medication every other day | 9.8% (11/112) |
| Add a supplement (eg, CO‐Q10 or vitamin D) | 21.4% (24/112) |
| Frequency of prescribing nonstatin lipid‐lowering therapy for the following scenarios (most or always) | |
| Patients cannot tolerate statins | 59.8% (67/112) |
| LDL‐C remains high despite statin use | 67.0% (75/112) |
| Further cardiovascular disease risk reduction above and beyond statin use | 50.9% (57/112) |
ASCVD indicates atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease; and LDL‐C, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol.