Summer 2024 LipidSpin Articles | National Lipid Association Online

Christie M. Ballantyne, MD, FNLA	Letter from the NLA President: Greetings from Texas Hello NLA members, I am honored to serve as the 2024-2025 National Lipid Association President, and present to you the fall installment of LipidSpin, Exploring the Costs of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. As a busy clinician myself, I look forward to the discussion this edition may bolster. Our recent Fall Clinical Lipid Update in Dallas, Texas went off without a hitch. We had some fantastic sessions on prediabetes, imaging, and diet, and dove into NLA’s newest... more
Kaye-Eileen Willard, MD, FNLA	Editor's Corner: "The Only Constant in Life is Change" "Charles Darwin didn’t say that only the strong survive, he said those who survive are the ones who most accurately perceive their environment and successfully adapt to it." - Leon Megginson In many ways, we are at a crossroads. Emphasis on the focal point of Darwin’s fundamental theory as quoted above: Survival depends on the ability to assess one’s environment and change accordingly. Firstly, this edition of the LipidSpin has been a daunting task to... more
James Trippi, MD, FNLA	From the MWLA President: The Cost Crisis in Healthcare Midwest Chapter of the NLA explores a unique topic in this issue of LipidSpin that impacts all of our clinical decisions: exploring the costs of cardiovascular disease prevention. Every day, clinicians seek to provide the best care for patients, reducing cardiovascular risk, promoting a vital lifestyle. Our training directs us to the best means of assessment and treatments for those under our care. However, there are times when a patient’s financial limitations challenge this... more
Bharosa Sharma, MD Nataliya Pyslar, MD, FACC, FNLA	Clinical Feature: Navigating Barriers in Familial Hypercholesterolemia Journey: A Tale of Resilience and Advocacy As the physicians employed by a government hospital, we frequently encounter patients facing significant social and financial challenges. This often leads to a sense of isolation within the medical community. At Cook County Health in Chicago, we provide medical care to 50% of the uninsured population in Cook County, the second-most-populous county in the United States with over five million residents, more than 10% of whom are without health insurance. The remaining 50% of care for uninsured... more
Kari Murdy, RD, LD	EBM Tools for Practice: Heart-Healthy Dietary Patterns Can Be Budget-Friendly Introduction It is common to hear the saying “it is expensive to eat healthy”, but does it have to be? When it comes to healthy eating, it isn’t only the cost that can be unsettling, but the massive amount of conflicting nutrition information available to interpret. The anxiety surrounding “What should I be eating?” and “How will it affect my budget?” increases further when you add a condition such as hyperlipidemia and the recommendation of following a heart-healthy... more
Melissa Price-McDonald, MPH	Lipid Luminations: Assessing Health Literacy as a Modifiable Risk Factor for the Prevention of Peripheral Artery Disease Based on Recommendations from the World Heart Federation Cholesterol Roadmap Disease prevention can lead to optimal promotion of health and improved quality of life. To achieve this goal, the concept must be emphasized by the clinician and adopted by the patient. Modifiable risk factors such as diet, exercise, smoking, etc. have long been recognized as causing or contributing to chronic illnesses including atherosclerotic disease. More recently the impact of health literacy has been recognized as a risk factor that can also impact a patient’s health journey.... more
Hannah Marie Ferrari, PharmD, BCACP Michael S. Kelly, PharmD, BCACP, CLS, FNLA	Specialty Corner: Cutting Costs without Compromising Care: Affordable Approaches to Lipid-Lowering Medications Introduction Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, and uncontrolled lipids are a major modifiable risk factor for ASCVD.¹Statin therapy remains the cornerstone for ASCVD risk-reduction, yet optimal lipid control remains suboptimal.² Current U.S. guidelines recommend adding non-statin medications in patients whose LDL-C or non-HDL-C remains above specific thresholds despite maximally... more
Kaye-Eileen Willard, MD, FNLA	Practical Pearls: Navigating a Patient’s Roadmap through Effective Care The focus of this article is to provide a guide for clinicians and patients to effectively navigate the healthcare system in general, as well as in terms of specific lipid-related health concerns. Lennert Griese et al. in their 2020 article, “Challenges in Navigating the Health Care System: Development of an Instrument Measuring Navigation Health Literacy”¹, discuss a patient's need for ‘navigational health literacy’ to orient themselves within healthcare systems. In this... more
Maximilian C. Volk, DO Luke J. Laffin, MD	Case Study: Navigating the World of Nutraceuticals and Dietary Supplements: A Look at all the Costs Associated with Nutraceutical and Dietary Supplement Use for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Case A 62-year-old woman with a past medical history significant for pre-diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia (HLD), and obesity presented to her primary care physician for a routine six-month follow up. She recently became more proactive about her health given one of her colleagues recently had a myocardial infarction. In addition to reducing her red meat consumption and walking in the evening, she started taking a red yeast rice (RYR) dietary supplement... more
Scott Merryman, MD, FNLA	MWLA Chapter Update: Goals and Celebrations I am honored to be leading the Midwest Lipid Association this year. I started working for Ohio State 25 years ago and had a variety of teaching duties with medical students, residents, and fellows with a primary emphasis on psychiatry and cardiovascular prevention. I was asked to start a Lipid Clinic at OSU in 2005.I was initially hesitant to add something else to my existing duties. To help me make this decision, I was connected with Ralph La Forge at Duke. He and ... more