Managing lipid risk in acute coronary syndrome patients in the real world: results from the BEST consensus

BACKGROUND: The gap between the targets recommended by current guidelines and the lipid values observed in the real world among patients at very high or extreme cardiovascular risk has called into question the effectiveness of the stepwise lipid-lowering strategy. The BEST (Best Evidence with Ezetimibe/statin Treatment) project supported an expert panel of Italian cardiologists to investigate the different clinical-therapeutic pathways in the management of the residual lipid risk of post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients at discharge and to analyze potential critical issues. METHODS: Among the members of the panel, 37 cardiologists were selected to participate in a consensus process using the mini-Delphi technique. A 9-statement questionnaire, focusing on the early use of combination lipid-lowering therapies in post-ACS patients, was built up based on a previous survey that involved all members of the BEST project. For each proposed statement, participants anonymously expressed their personal level of disagreement/agreement, according to a 7-point Likert scale. The relative degree of agreement and consensus was calculated based on the median and the 25th percentile values and the interquartile range (IQR). The administration of the questionnaire was repeated twice: the second one after general discussion and analysis of the answers given in the first round in order to obtain as much consensus as possible. RESULTS: With the exception of a single item, the responses of the participants were in agreement with a broad consensus already at the first round with a median value of 6, a 25th percentile of 5 and an IQR of 2. This trend resulted more evident at the second round (median 7, 25th percentile 6, IQR 1). In particular, there was unanimous agreement (median 7, IQR 0-1) on the statements in favor of a lipid-lowering therapy that guarantees the achievement of the targets as much and as soon as possible by the systematic early utilization of the high-dose/intensity statin + ezetimibe combination and, when needed, PCSK9 inhibitors. The percentage of the experts who changed their responses between the first and second round was 39% overall, ranging from 16% to 69%. CONCLUSIONS: According to the mini-Delphi results, there is a broad agreement and consensus to manage the lipid risk in post-ACS patients by lipid-lowering treatments that guarantee an early and "robust" lipid reduction which can be achieved only by the systematic use of combination therapies.