Advertising campaigns of sterol-enriched food. An often neglected cause of reduced compliance to lipid lowering drug therapy.

摘要

Adherence to lipid lowering treatment is a matter of crucial importance as it has been proven to reduce long term mortality especially in high cardiovascular risk patients . Unfortunately, studies evaluating adherence to lipid-lower-ing treatment have shown reduced compliance: early high discontinuation rates, patients (considered as persistent) who do not really follow their drug regimen regularly, and reduced compliance not only for patients receiving drugs for primary prevention, but also for those receiving them for overt cardiovascular disease , On the other hand, many studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of dietary sterols as adjuvant treatment in reducing total as well as LDL cholesterol in dislipidemic subjects. Indeed, guidelines recommend the consumption of sterol enriched food products as a further option, in addition to statin therapy in patients with dylipidemia.