Abstract
Statins are one of the most prescribed medications in our country. About 2 billions CZK are being paid for them annually in the Czech Republic (CR).
Objective information about to whom, why, how, by whom and with what results these medications are given is, however, missing. It was the aim of the STEP project (Statin Therapy REsults in the Real World Practice in the Czech Republic), which was carried out in the CR in 2010, to obtain the missing information.
In this non-intervention retrospective survey, data from 3190 patients treated by statins for at least 12 months in specialized outpatient clinics were collected and analyzed. The primary aim was to establish the percentage of patients who attain the LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) goal during the treatment with statin lasting for at least 12 months.
The patients were divided into 3 groups according to their absolute cardiovascular (CV) risk and the LDL-C goal was defined for each of these groups based on the current recommendations - group 1: primary prevention (n=597) - LDL-C < 3.0 mmol/l; group 2: secondary prevention (n=1901) - LDL-C < 2.5 mmol/l; group 3: very high CV risk (n=692) - LDL-C < 2.0 mmol/l.