Disorders of blood lipid metabolism are an established risk factor for atherosclerosis, therefore the importance of therapeutic regulation of dyslipidaemia for the prevention of cardio- and cerebrovascular complications is recognized by professional societies worldwide.

In addition to disorders of lipid metabolism, cardiovascular risk is increased by risk factors such as older age, positive family history of premature coronary artery disease, smoking, hypertension, and low HDL cholesterol. Therapeutic lifestyle modification is recommended immediately when the LDL cholesterol target is exceeded. Drug intervention should be given if the required thresholds are exceeded in low- or intermediate-risk individuals after 3 months of lifestyle modification or if the risk is high to very high.¹ For this purpose, there are separate classes of agents depending on the lipid profile, which allow individualized therapy.

¹ Austrian Lipid Consensus 2010. management of dyslipidaemia for prevention of vascular complications. Joint consensus statement of eight Austrian professional societies, May 2010.