The 2003 Canadian recommendations for dyslipidemia management: revisions are needed

The recommendations of the 2003 Canadian guidelines for the management and treatment of dyslipidemia, if applied in clinical practice, will result in more people being screened and prescribed statin therapy. When compared with the 2000 guidelines, the 2003 guidelines recommend screening more people with fewer risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) and lower lipid level targets for people in all risk groups. We are concerned that these changes will result in hundreds of thousands more people receiving treatment and a marked increase in costs to the Canadian healthcare system, with small overall improvements to CAD outcomes. Simple revisions to the new guidelines could reduce the number of people receiving treatment and at the same time prevent more CAD-related deaths.