Volume 27, Issue 139, September 2023

Investigating doctors' implementation of ACC/AHA blood cholesterol treatment recommendations at a tertiary hospital in Northern Saudi Arabia

Alaa H Falemban¹, Radhi M Alanazi², Safaa M Alsanosi¹, Halah T Albar³, Asim M Alshanberi⁴, Yosra Z Alhindi^1♦

¹Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
²Pharmacy Department, Al-Qurryyat General Hospital, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia
³Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
⁴Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al- Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: The 2018 American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) updated data on blood cholesterol treatment guidelines showed a significant shift in treating atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). In 2018, recommendations were adopted to increase the number of persons using statin therapy. Still, real-world observations of how treatment use has changed, especially in Saudi Arabia, have yet to be limited in the literature. Doctors' implementation of ACC/AHA 2018 recommendations regarding prescribing medications has yet to be studied in Saudi Arabia. Aim: To examine doctors' implementation of ACC/AHA 2018 cholesterol recommendations in managing acute atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease patients. Results: Almost 47% of the patients were managed according to the 2018 ACC/AHA recommendations. However, 53% of patients did not take statins. Doctors adhered to the recommendations when working with patients with myocardial issues, in contrast to other events. Of the non-adherent patients, 40% refused the treatment because of their beliefs or fear of the side effects. Conclusion: Our primary analysis concluded that statin recommendations were not given to more than half of the patients with acute atherosclerotic diseases; moreover, some did not receive any statin therapy.

Keywords: Statin, 2018 ACC/AHA, guidelines, blood cholesterol management.

Medical Science, 2023, 27, e358ms3228

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v27i139.e358ms3228

Published: 30 September 2023