Editor comment: focus on cardiovascular risk factor control

According to, and The Recent European Society Of Cardiology (ESC)/European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS), patients with a recent myocardial infarction (MI), should achieve a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction of ≥50% from baseline and an LDL-C level of <1.4 mmol/L (<55 mg/dL). These new guidelines present a lower LDL-C goal and recommend more aggressive LDL-C lowering therapy for patients with an MI, as compared with the previous 2016 ESC/EAS guidelines. Several studies have demonstrated low attainment of 2016 LDL-C goals, both in primary and secondary prevention, while it is unclear the proportions of patients achieving 2019—LDL-C target compared to the 2016 guidelines. In this issue of the journal, the EU-Wide Cross-Sectional Observational Study of Lipid-Modifying Therapy Use in Secondary and Primary Care (DA VINCI study) provides information about LDL-C goal attainment for patients across Europe in different healthcare settings and previously understudied patient groups.1 The study showed that, overall, only 54% of patients achieved their risk-based 2016 LDL-C goal and 33% achieved their risk-based 2019 goal. For very high-risk primary and secondary prevention patients the 2019 goal attainment was 17% and 22%. High-intensity statin monotherapy was used in 20% and 38% of very high-risk primary and secondary prevention patients, respectively.