Highlights for Monday, April 4

This week, we are sharing with you a series of articles and an editorial published recently by NEJM, which discuss the results of Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation-3 (HOPE-3) trial. We are proud that the first authors of each of the original studies are our colleagues from McMaster University!

These articles deal with an extremely common clinical situation: a person without overt cardiovascular disease but with at least 1 risk factor, for example, obesity, smoking, dyslipidemia, dysglycemia, uncomplicated diabetes mellitus treated by diet or at most 1 oral medication, renal dysfunction, a strong family history of early coronary disease.

Of note, blood pressure elevation was not part of the inclusion criteria. The results of those studies will influence the management of such patients starting now, both in terms of lipid as well as blood pressure-related decisions.

Cushman WC, Goff DC. More HOPE for Prevention with Statins. N Engl J Med. 2016 Apr 2. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe1603504. [Free article]

Lonn EM, Bosch J, López-Jaramillo P, et al; HOPE-3 Investigators. Blood-Pressure Lowering in Intermediate-Risk Persons without Cardiovascular Disease. N Engl J Med. 2016 Apr 2. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1600175. [Free article]

Yusuf S, Bosch J, Dagenais G, et al; HOPE-3 Investigators. Cholesterol Lowering in Intermediate-Risk Persons without Cardiovascular Disease. N Engl J Med. 2016 Apr 2. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1600176. [Free article]

Yusuf S, Lonn E, Pais P, et al; HOPE-3 Investigators. Blood-Pressure and Cholesterol Lowering in Persons without Cardiovascular Disease. N Engl J Med. 2016 Apr 2. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1600177. [Free article]