A new paper in Global Hearts co-authored by RTSL advocates for integrating hypertension medicines and cholesterol medicines into treatment plans to address the 90% of patients in low- and middle-income countries who don’t receive the cholesterol medications they need for primary cardiovascular disease prevention. Including statin treatment within existing HEARTS hypertension and diabetes protocols can help expand coverage and close this treatment gap.
Abstract
In low- and middle-income countries where the majority of preventable cardiovascular disease deaths occur, less than 10% of eligible patients receive statins for primary cardiovascular disease prevention. Since 2017, the Global Hearts initiative has implemented simple World Health Organization (WHO) HEARTS hypertension and diabetes treatment protocols. In this editorial, we propose an approach of integrating statin treatment into existing HEARTS hypertension and diabetes protocols as a way of expanding statin coverage in low-and middle-income countries.
