Correction to: 2026 ACC/AHA/AACVPR/ABC/ACPM/ADA/AGS/APhA/ASPC/NLA/PCNA Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines

“We know 80% or more of cardiovascular disease is preventable and elevated LDL cholesterol, sometimes referred to as 'bad' cholesterol, is a major part of that risk. While we want to try to optimize healthy lifestyle habits as the first step to lower cholesterol, we realize that if lipid numbers aren't within the desirable range after a period of lifestyle optimization, we should consider adding lipid-lowering medication earlier than we would have considered 10 years ago. And lower LDL cholesterol for longer, just like lower blood pressure for longer, results in much greater protection against future heart attack and stroke risk.”

“This is how preventive cardiology is practiced in 2026.”

“We've known for some time that the time-averaged LDL over your lifetime is the one of the strongest predictors of whether you're going to get cardiovascular disease. A younger person, somebody who is 41 years old, is not going to have much of a 10-year risk, so do you wait until they have manifest disease before you treat them? Or do you treat them before they have manifest disease?”