Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and the leading source of healthcare expenditure in the US and most other industrialised countries. Cholesterol lowering by pharmacological means prevents atherosclerotic plaque progression and has been shown to reduce both fatal and nonfatal...

Although risk-factor modification has gained wide acceptance as an effective approach to the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD), health planners, physicians and patients confront considerable uncertainty over the most appropriate and efficient preventive strategies. Some preventive...

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of death and illness in industrialised countries. Like other hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, pravastatin reduces total and low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol levels and increases high density lipoprotein...

This study assessed the cost effectiveness of treatments for the primary prevention of coronary heart disease in Spain, which included smoking cessation and reductions in blood cholesterol levels and BP. Cost-effectiveness ratios (measured in terms of $US per life-year gained) ranged from...

Elevated cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Treatment strategies promoting the associated health benefits from a reduction in elevated cholesterol levels have been outlined in guidelines published by the National Cholesterol Education Program....

Variable compliance with prescribed drug regimens is a leading source of variability in drug response. Specifics differ by drug and disease. The role of variable compliance was clearly defined in 2 trials of lipid-lowering agents, cholestyramine and gemfibrozil, in which exceptionally careful...

Background: The high consumption of hypolipidaemic agents warrants the study of the costs caused by these medicines being inadequately prescribed. Objective: To quantify the economic cost generated in 1 year in primary care by inadequate (or unnecessary) prescriptions for hypolipidaemic drugs....

Objective: To contain costs, the US Department of Defense instituted a mandated statin formulary conversion program, designating cerivastatin and simvastatin as the `preferred statins'. This study examines the effectiveness, safety, and statin cost effectiveness following conversion to...

Coronary heart disease (CHD) emerged in North America and Europe as a leading cause of disease and death in the mid 20th century, and is now rapidly increasing in developing nations. By the mid 1980s, American and European academic institutions had issued several sets of guidelines indicating...

Objective: Recent data indicate that the combination of a low cholesterol diet and simvastatin following heart transplantation is associated with significant reduction of serum cholesterol levels, lower incidence of graft vessel disease (GVD) and significantly superior 4-year survival rates than...