SAN FRANCISCO – Those looking for guidance from the American Diabetes Association regarding the guidelines released last fall from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association dropping cholesterol treatment goals will have to wait until next year.
That’s when the ADA’s Clinical Practice Recommendations, released each year in January, will incorporate the Professional Practice Committee’s review of the ACC/AHA guidelines and the evidence behind it. The new recommendations caused some controversy and raised some questions about treatment of certain patient groups, most notably those with diabetes.
The ADA hasn’t recommended any changes to its current guidelines, which still incorporate treatment to target. But it has been reviewing the guidelines to see if it would recommend any changes for its 2015 guidelines.
Dr. Robert E. Ratner, chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association, further explained the organization’s position on treatment of lipids in patients with diabetes in a video interview at the annual scientific sessions of the ADA.
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The association is also holding a debate at this year’s meeting to discuss the pros and cons of the new lipid guidelines for patients with diabetes.
In a press conference, Dr. Robert Eckel, professor of medicine and Charles A. Boettcher chair in atherosclerosis at University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, said he was in support of the ACC/AHA guidelines, having served on the Task Force on Practice Guidelines, and that he believed that almost all patients with diabetes should be on a statin. He stressed that the new guidelines are evidence based.
But Dr. Henry Ginsberg, Irving Professor of Medicine and Director of the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Columbia University, New York, argued that the guidelines’ evidence-based construct was too narrow.
In a video interview, Dr. Ginsberg further discussed his position and his practice tips for physicians.
Both physicians agreed that patients should be treated on an individual basis. For instance, patients who are statin intolerant won’t meet the guidelines’ criteria and "we’ll have to go beyond the guidelines," said Dr. Eckel.
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