NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs by elderly patients with clogged arteries or "atherosclerosis" remains suboptimal despite improvements in the last 10 years, according to a study conducted in Canada.

Many practice guidelines advocate the use of statins in people with atherosclerosis, but several studies have shown under utilization of statins in this population, the study team notes in the Journal of Vascular Surgery this month.

Dr. Subodh Verma from St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, and investigators examined trends in statin use among elderly patients with atherosclerosis in Ontario.

Of the 343,154 subjects with atherosclerosis, 68.7 percent had coronary artery diseases, 33.5 percent had a history of stroke or other "cerebrovascular disease," and 7.0 percent had narrowed leg arteries, also known as peripheral artery disease or PAD.

Between 1995 and 2004, the percentage of statin users increased from 11.8 percent to 61.2 percent in the coronary artery disease patients; from 5.3 percent to 41.2 percent in cerebrovascular disease patients; and from 6.8 percent to 43.3 percent in the PAD patients, the investigators report.

Despite these increases, the investigators say, "the use of statins in this patient population was still suboptimal." This care gap was more prominent among patients with PAD or cerebrovascular disease, or both, than among patients with coronary artery disease."

SOURCE: Journal of Vascular Surgery, September 2008.

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