Health Alert: New cholesterol guidelines emphasize personalized risk assessments

Leading heart experts advised doctors to tailor cholesterol treatment decisions to each patient's risk. The new guidelines, released at the American Heart Association's annual meeting, also recommend the use of two new kinds of drugs for those in the greatest danger of heart disease. The recommendations build on guidelines issued in 2013 that told doctors to stop trying to lower patients' cholesterol numbers to specific targets and instead follow a matrix that tries to predict their risk of heart problems. The new guidelines give clinicians a better idea of how to do that via treatment categories that vary depending on cholesterol scores and, if necessary, other tests.

Democracy Dies in Darkness     Health Alert Nov 10, 11:32 AM     New cholesterol guidelines emphasize personalized risk assessments Leading heart experts advised doctors to tailor cholesterol treatment decisions to each patient's risk. The new guidelines, released at the American Heart Association's annual meeting, also recommend the use of two new kinds of drugs for those in the greatest danger of heart disease. The recommendations build on guidelines issued in 2013 that told doctors to stop trying to lower patients' cholesterol numbers to specific targets and instead follow a matrix that tries to predict their risk of heart problems. The new guidelines give clinicians a better idea of how to do that via treatment categories that vary depending on cholesterol scores and, if necessary, other tests. Read more » Advertisement You received this email because you signed up for news alerts from The Washington Post. Manage my newsletters and alerts | Unsubscribe Privacy Policy | Help ©2018 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071