Despite evidence that cholesterol-cutting drugs reduce the risk of heart attacks, many doctors still don't prescribe them, says a new study. The study, in the Feb. 14 Archives of Internal Medicine, focuses on doctors and their patients at major teaching hospitals in the United States and Canada.
The study looked at use of cholesterol medications in 825 men and women with coronary artery disease at 16 academic medical centers. About half had dangerously high levels of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol.
Only 54 percent of the men and 35 percent of the women were on cholesterol medication in 1997, the researchers found. That compared with 42 percent of men and 38 percent of women in 1994.
Dr Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, says treatment rates for patients with a history of heart disease are far too low. But he adds the lack of adequate treatment in women is "particularly worrisome."
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