Preview: The American Heart Association Scientific Sessions

By Peter H. Jones, MD, FACP, FNLA

The National Lipid Association (NLA) is excited about the upcoming 2014 American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions (Nov. 15-19, Chicago). This is the premier meeting exploring all of the latest news and science related to heart and vascular disease, and we’ll be on-site engaging in conversations with thought leaders and researchers from around the world. You should know that this meeting attracts more than 17,000 attendees from 100 countries.

The AHA meeting represents an opportunity for the NLA to participate in discourse with other international lipid experts (click here for the AHA meeting online program planner), and we are particularly excited to share with our peers the new Recommendations for Patient-Centered Management of Dyslipidemia (click here to view the recommendations). As these recommendations were created to guide healthcare providers in the diagnosis and treatment of lipid disorders, we look forward to questions and feedback as providers become familiar with them and how they compare to other organizations’ contributions to the current treatment paradigm.

Presenting on behalf of the NLA during the meeting will be W. Virgil Brown, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Lipidology and Founding President of the NLA. As you’re scheduling your activities while at AHA (click here to check out some of the biggest attractions at this year’s meeting), be sure to note Dr. Brown’s presentation on Sunday, Nov. 16, where he will be participating in a debate about cholesterol targets (his lecture title is “Best Lipid Therapy for CVD Prevention Is Titration to Cholesterol Targets—Lower Is Better”). Please be sure to attend this session for a spirited debate among Dr. Brown and others.

On Monday, Nov. 17, the highly anticipated results of the IMPROVE-IT trial will be revealed. IMPROVE-IT enrolled more than 18,000 patients with acute coronary syndromes to evaluate optimal high-intensity statin therapy alone vs. the addition of placebo or ezetimibe on the incidence of overall cardiovascular outcomes.

This year’s AHA meeting promises to be informative and important for those interested in cardiovascular health. Please be sure to check back in the coming days as the NLA provides additional commentary surrounding the presentations and announcements coming out of Chicago.

Peter H. Jones, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Chief Science Officer for the NLA.