Lipid-lowering therapy in diabetes - how low should you go?

Abstract

Earlier this year, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommended lipid-lowering drug therapy for all patients with diabetes mellitus who have LDL-cholesterol levels ≥ 130 mg/dl. ^* The ADA currently recommends treatment to an LDL-cholesterol level ≤ 100 mg/dl. This recommendation places patients with diabetes in the same risk category as patients without diabetes who have documented coronary artery disease, and provided a focus for considerable discussion and debate at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Diabetes Association [ San Diego, US; June 1999 ].