Clinical Characteristics and Unmet Need Among Patients with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Stratified by Statin Use

Background: The American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) 2013 guidelines for blood cholesterol treatment recommend high-intensity statins for adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Currently, little is known about the real-world patient characteristics of ASCVD, as well as the clinical and economic consequences of different treatment options for this disease.

Objectives: To compare the demographic, clinical, and economic characteristics of patients with clinical ASCVD who started therapy with high-intensity statins, low-/moderate-intensity statins, or no statins in usual-care settings based on data primarily before the release of the ACC/AHA 2013 guidelines.

Methods: This retrospective, observational cohort study used claims data from US commercial health plans from January 2006 to June 2014 to identify patients with ASCVD (ie, acute coronary syndrome, coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, or peripheral arterial disease). High-intensity, low-/moderate-intensity statin users and non-statin users were selected based on the presence of a corresponding prescription fill. The index date was defined as the first statin fill date for the statin cohorts and the earliest eligibility date for clinical ASCVD for the non-statin users group. The follow-up outcomes, including treatment patterns, cardiovascular (CV) events, and healthcare utilization and costs, were assessed after matching the high-intensity statin and low-/moderate-intensity statin initiators.

Results: A total of 273,308 patients with ASCVD were included in the study; of these, 104,649 were statin initiators and 168,659 non-statin users. Only 8.8% (N = 24,106) of the total population initiated high-intensity statins. Patient adherence (defined as proportion of days covered ≥80%) to statin therapy was low in the matched high-intensity statin and low-/moderate-intensity statin cohorts (27.0% vs 26.4%, respectively). Approximately 16% of the patients in either of the matched cohorts had at least 1 CV event during the available follow-up period.

Conclusion: The low percentage of patients who initiated high-intensity statin therapy, low adherence to statin therapy, and high rates of CV events during the follow-up period suggest a substantial unmet need among patients with ASCVD in the real-world setting. The demographic and clinical heterogeneity across the cohorts suggests significant variability in physician perception of the appropriate use of statins and may provide an opportunity to improve care and health outcomes in these high-risk patients.