Abstract
This study aimed to assess the treatment patterns and prevalence of persistent lipid abnormalities in Portuguese hypertensive patients concomitantly treated with statins. Only 25% of the 656 hypertensive patients achieved the blood pressure goals in use during the study period. Similarly, only 33% and 37% attained the recommended levels of total cholesterol <4.5 mmol/L and LDL cholesterol <2.5 mmol/L, respectively. Relatively low doses of medium potency statins were the mainstay of therapy. There seems to be considerable room for improvement through the use of more potent statins, dose up-titration, and/or addition of other lipid-modifying therapies.
Declaration of interest
A. M. F. served as a part-time consultant for MSD Portugal, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.