Aortic & peripheral vascular disease
Statins Use in Veterans With Peripheral Artery Disease: Insights From the PEARLS Study
Authors' conclusion
Nearly 70% of patients with PAD were receiving a statin within 1 year of PAD diagnosis. However, use of high-intensity statins and nonstatin lipid-lowering therapy remained suboptimal. Moreover, there was modest variation in use of statins, especially high-intensity statins, across sites, highlighting opportunities for improving guideline-concordant care in patients with PAD.
Study context
- Population
- Veterans with a new diagnosis of PAD, alive at 1 yearpatients with PAD alive at 1 year
- Participants
- 91,970 veterans
- Exposure
- High-intensity statins vs low/moderate-intensity statins vs no statins
- High-intensity statinsn = 34,017
- Outcome
- Statin use
- Follow-up
- 1 year
Methodological detailspharmacy claims data, hierarchical multivariable logistic regression
- Pharmacy claims data
- Hierarchical multivariable logistic regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Patients on a statin
64 231
69.9%
Patients on a high-intensity statin
34 017
37.0%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol — overall median low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- 81.6 mg/dL
Nonstatin users not prescribed a statin at any time in the preceding 3 years
- Of nonstatin users
- 53.4% (14 834/27 739)
Variables associated with higher statin and high-intensity statin use
- Age, prior history of coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and current or former smoking history, obesity, and revascularization during the initial 6 months were associated with higher statin and high-intensity statin use (among statin users)
Site-level variation in statin use
- High-intensity statin use across sites
- 20% to 54%
- Overall median odds ratio
- 1.39 (95% CI, 1.32-1.46)
- Modest variation
Original publication
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →