Opportunities For Improving Cardiovascular Health Outcomes In Adults Younger Than 65years With Guideline-Recommended Statin Therapy

The impact of age, race/ethnicity, healthcare insurance, and selected clinical variables on statin-preventable ASCVD were quantified in adults aged 21 to 79years from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2007-2012 using the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guideline on the treatment of cholesterol. Among approximate to 42.4 million statin-eligible, untreated adults, 52.6% were hypertensive and 71% were younger than 65years. Of approximate to 232000 statin-preventable ASCVD events annually, most occur in individuals younger than 65years, with higher proportions in blacks and Hispanics than whites (73.0% and 69.2% vs 56.9%, respectively; P<.01). Among adults younger than 65years, the ratio of statin-eligible but untreated to statin-treated adults was higher in blacks and Hispanics than whites (3.0 and 2.9 vs 1.3, respectively; P<.01), and blacks, men, hypertensives, and cigarette smokers were more likely to be statin eligible than their statin-ineligible counterparts by multivariable logistic regression. Two thirds of untreated statin-eligible adults had two or more healthcare visits per year. Identifying and treating more statin-eligible adults in the healthcare system could improve cardiovascular health equity.