[Are treatments with statins that are considered unsuitable really unsuitable?]. / ¿Son realmente inadecuados los tratamientos con estatinas considerados como inadecuados?

In the Catalonian Institute of health there are 2 well-established circumstances for indicating lipid-lowering drug treatment with statins in the primary prevention of ischaemic heart disease. These are, severe hypercholesterolaemia, with a low density lipoprotein cholesterol equal to or greater than 240mg/dL, or above 130mg/dL when the coronary risk is equal to or greater than 10% at 10 years. There are data that suggest that these 2 criteria are not the only ones used in routine clinical practice, as such that the majority of patients to whom it is indicated, do not meet either of these 2 conditions. This study aims to determine the characteristics of the patients when statins are indicated outside the aforementioned circumstances. It is concluded that around 40% of patients have clinical characteristics that could justify the treatment. The level of suitability could not be established in about 33% of the patients, due to not being able to determine the coronary risk.