Investigating doctors implementation of ACC/AHA blood cholesterol treatment recommendations at a tertiary hospital in Northern Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: The 2018 American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) updated data on blood cholesterol treatment guidelines showed a significant shift in treating atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). In 2018, recommendations were adopted to increase the number of persons using statin therapy. Still, real-world observations of how treatment use has changed, especially in Saudi Arabia, have yet to be limited in the literature. Doctors' implementation of ACC/AHA 2018 recommendations regarding prescribing medications has yet to be studied in Saudi Arabia. Aim: To examine doctors' implementation of ACC/AHA 2018 cholesterol recommendations in managing acute atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease patients. Results: Almost 47% of the patients were managed according to the 2018 ACC/AHA recommendations. However, 53% of patients did not take statins. Doctors adhered to the recommendations when working with patients with myocardial issues, in contrast to other events. Of the non-adherent patients, 40% refused the treatment because of their beliefs or fear of the side effects. Conclusion: Our primary analysis concluded that statin recommendations were not given to more than half of the patients with acute atherosclerotic diseases; moreover, some did not receive any statin therapy.