Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Lipid-lowering therapies (LLTs) are a key element to reduce the risk of recurrence of ASCVD events. However, despite concordant guidelines, LLTs are often underused in real-life setting.
Research questions
The aim of this study is to describe the use of LLTs and its impact on morbi-mortality in the year following a first ASCVD event.
Methods
This retrospective study used the national health data system (SNDS), collecting health insurance claims and hospital discharge data from 99% of the French population. Incident cases in 2021 were identified, corresponding to all adults with a first ASCVD event, based on ICD-10 hospital coding. ASCVD includes coronary artery disease [myocardial infarction, unstable angina or coronary revascularization], cerebrovascular events [ischemic stroke, carotid revascularization] and peripheral artery disease (PAD) requiring artery revascularization. In patients discharged alive from the index event, longitudinal analyses were performed at 1-year from discharge to describe LLT use, occurrence of major ASCVD events and all-cause mortality.
Results
In 2021, 195,211 newly diagnosed ASCVD cases were identified among 43,1M adults (mean age: 70.3 (±13.7) yo; 62% of male). The first ASCVD event was myocardial infarction (N=51,614) or ischemic stroke (N=52,865) in 53.5% of incident cases. The remaining 46.5% corresponded mostly to coronary revascularization procedures (N=83,910), followed by PAD (N=26,925). In-hospital mortality was 5.5% (N=10,673). In patients analyzed at 1 year (N=180,875), 16.9% did not receive any LLT. This value rose to 26.7% among patients who had no received LLT prior to the ASCVD event. After a myocardial infarction, patients were more likely to receive LLT (91.9%) compared to after an ischemic stroke (72.9%) or revascularization for PAD (68.0%). Finally, 1-year all-cause mortality was higher in non-LLT compared to LLT patients (20.9% vs 4.0%). Additional data on the recurrence of ASCVD events as a function of LLT use are currently being analyzed and will be presented at the congress.
Conclusion
Contrary to recommendations, the underuse of LLTs after a first ASCVD event remains very high, particularly after a stroke. This is associated with a significantly higher mortality at 1 year, justifying the need to reinforce implementation of the guidelines in real life for a better management of residual lipid risk.