Letter From the LipidSpin Editor: Moving Forward with Recommendations

The National Lipid Association (NLA) is proud to move forward with its Recommendations for Patient-Centered Management of Dyslipidemia for those practicing clinical lipidology in an environment where many clinical queries remain unanswered for clinicians. To that end, the NLA has developed Part II of these Recommendations.

The ACC/AHA Guidelines and many other guidelines throughout the world are very broad and generic in the sense that they do not address many unique specific challenges that come up for all of us in every day practice. Part II is designed to offer assistance to clinicians to address some of these conundrums. More recommendations are planned in the future to offer even more clarity.

Recommendations are being prepared for CVD risk reduction related to exercise, children, gender differences, unique women’s health issues, race differences, elderly populations, HIV patient questions, inflammatory disorders, the importance and methods to encourage adherence, as well as recommendations for team based collaborative care.

While every clinical question is different, the purpose in their development is to review the current evidence, then to develop the most important principles in each of these areas, and then to make recommendations based on the best evidence available.

Our hope is that these Recommendations will be highlighted in future issues of the LipidSpin and will be available to all practitioners through its publication in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology (JCL) and through lipid.org.

Draft slides from Part II of these Recommendations are scheduled to publish on the NLA website. A public comment period will follow in June. We want to hear your thoughts on these Recommendations, so please visit lipid.org to view and comment. The final document is scheduled to publish in the JCL later this year.

These Recommendations are being put together by teams of experts in each of these areas and then they are vetted for best clinical interpretation in keeping with the theme of the NLA. Our mission is to enhance the practice of lipid management in clinical practice and we hope that these Recommendations offer assistance to that end.

We trust that you will find these useful and practical. We also hope that you give us feedback as to how useful these Recommendations really are to you. We ask that you also pass on other favorite topics where you think that clinical recommendations might be helpful.

As always, we appreciate your feedback as we partner to reduce atherosclerosis and its consequences.