National Lipid Association Releases Annual Summary of Clinical Lipidology 2015

After years of thoughtful planning and development, the National Lipid Association (NLA) recently released its first edition of the Annual Summary of Clinical Lipidology.

 

The first issue, which was published as a supplement to the November/December issue of the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, is the brainchild of NLA member Harold E. Bays, MD, FNLA, and was founded on the principles of evidence-based medicine and is generally consistent with established national and international lipid guidelines.

 

"Over the years, the National Lipid Association (NLA) has become recognized as the premiere organization dedicated to the latest science and research in clinical lipidology,” says Dr. Bays. “The NLA has issued recommendations, position statements, consensus statements, clinical practice tools, and patient educational documents.”

 

So in 2012, a strategic plan was put in place to summarize the substantial content issued by the NLA, and publish it as a compendium of the basics of lipidology, allowing readers a “one stop shopping” experience.

 

This annual summary is intended to be a ‘‘living document,’’ with future annual updates that will be based on emerging science, clinical considerations, and new NLA position and consensus statements. The goal is to provide clinicians an ongoing resource that translates the latest advances in medical science toward the evaluation and treatment of patients with dyslipidemia. One of the unique aspects of the NLA Annual Summary of Clinical Lipidology is the novel formatting approach, which takes advantage of the information age. 

 

“Rather than copy tables and figures,” says Dr. Bays, “the NLA Annual Summary of Clinical Lipidology makes extensive use of hyperlinks to direct readers to the source of tables and figures. We plan to expand our commitment to linked content in future editions. Our sense is this format is the way of the future, with this issue being the first prototype of how future scientific organization summaries are likely to be presented."

 

According to Dr. Bays, another aspect of this project that makes it so unique is the diversity of its development, and the attention to the latest in medical science. 

 

“This NLA summary incorporated the input of almost 30 NLA members and other lipid experts. Going forward, our plan is to continue to solicit input from an array of interested NLA members and other lipid experts. Additionally, as new data emerges, this will be included as well. In this way, we can help ensure this summary remains at the cutting edge of all things lipids, so clinicians can have the confidence of knowing where to go for the latest of clinical lipidology."

 

To read the National Lipid Association Annual Summary of Clinical Lipidology 2015, click here. To view the the appendix and supplementary tables, click here.