Measurement of baseline total cholesterol: new data from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database

Objective: Current baseline cholesterol data in the UK are limited to values obtained from clinical trials or from surveys of the general population. However, baseline cholesterol data from the statin-treated population may be more appropriate when estimating the impact of alternative statin prescribing strategies. This study set out to determine the baseline cholesterol measurement before patients are started on a statin. Design: Data from The Health Improvement Network were used to identify statin users. The baseline cholesterol measurement prior to the first prescription of a statin was recorded for 223,058 statin-treated patients, stratified by cardiovascular risk. Results: The mean total cholesterol (TC) value for the primary prevention group was 6.57 mmol/L (standard deviation [SD] 1.19), whereas patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and those with diabetes were found to have mean TC levels of 6.1 mmol/L (SD 1.16) and 5.9 mmol/L (SD 1.15), respectively. Overall, the mean TC (mmol/L) for the pooled statin-treated patient group was 6.3 mmol/L (SD 1.22). Conclusions: This study revealed differences in the mean baseline cholesterol levels for different cardiovascular risk groups. Overall, the mean baseline cholesterol measurement of the statin-treated population is higher than that of the general population. These new baseline cholesterol levels in statin-treated patients should facilitate more detailed assessments of alternative statin-prescribing strategies and their impact on achieving treatment targets.