Management of Primary Hyperlipidemia

Epidemiologic, clinical, genetic, experimental, and pathological studies have clearly established the primary role of lipoproteins in atherogenesis.1,2 Lowering plasma cholesterol concentrations reduces the availability of atherogenic lipoproteins and also, presumably, the accumulation of cholesterol in the intima of arteries. Measures to lower plasma cholesterol have become fundamental to the practice of preventive cardiology, and their use in both patients who already have coronary disease and healthy people has materially contributed to the 50 percent reduction in mortality from coronary heart disease in the United States in the past two decades.3,4 Lowering the plasma cholesterol concentration by a variety . . .