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Editorial
November 15, 2016

Interpretation and Use of Another Statin Guideline

Author Affiliations
  • 1Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
  • 2Senior Editor, JAMA
  • 3Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
  • 4Editor, JAMA Cardiology
JAMA. 2016;316(19):1977-1979. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.15087

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guideline on statin use for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults and the evidence report that supports the USPSTF statement1,2 published in this issue of JAMA add to 4 other major guidelines on the use of statins published since 2013.3-6 It is self-evident that if they were identical, there would be no justification for more than a single guideline. Therefore, it is important to understand the differences and determine how to provide clinical care and guidance for patients that accounts for the differences. Despite numerous randomized clinical trials (RCTs), important evidence gaps persist, resulting in disparate recommendations among guideline writing groups.

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