Experts recommend updating cholesterol treatment guidelines

A prescription to buy Lipitor may be an effective way to lower cholesterol levels, but a new paper is recommending that doctors consider all of a patient's risk factors before offering the medication.

Researchers from Yale University and the University of Michigan wrote an open letter in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Outcomes and Quality in which they asked that LDL cholesterol targets be dropped from the influential clinical guidelines for cholesterol testing and management produced by the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel.

This guideline, which is widely used by physicians, recommends keeping all patients' cholesterol levels within certain ranges based on their personal risk factors. However, the letter points out that there is little clinical evidence to support this practice.

Instead, the researchers said that doctors should treat a patient's general lifestyle factors. For some individuals, this will mean providing them with a prescription to buy Lipitor. For others it will simply entail recommending more exercise and a healthier diet.

Cholesterol affects patients in many different ways. High cholesterol may put one person at a high risk of heart attack, while it can have little impact on another. Doctors should take these factors into consideration.