| Popis: |
Patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) are at a significant risk of cardiovascular events, similar to that of patients who have already experienced a major cardiac event. European Society for Vascular Society AAA guidelines suggest that antiplatelet therapy and lipid lowering therapy (LLT) should be considered in all patients with AAA. This study explores the overall prevalence and intensity of antithrombotic therapy and LLT, and lipid profile monitoring in a single centre AAA surveillance cohort alongside any sex differences.This was a retrospective, single centre, cross-sectional study of 614 patients enrolled in the AAA surveillance programme of a tertiary vascular surgery unit.All patients undergoing at least 1 surveillance scan from 1/1/18 to 31/12/20 were assessed. Electronic hospital records linked to real time primary care records were interrogated for data on demographics, co-morbidities, antiplatelet and LLT prescriptions, and cholesterol laboratory results. An analysis of covariance test was used to account for the effects of confounding comorbidities.21% of patients were not on antithrombotic therapy and 20% of patients were not on LLT which reflects a group of patient receiving poor clinical care. 47% of the cohort were on low/ moderate intensity statin therapy which reflects a group of patients where care can be improved upon. Female sex is independently associated with a reduced likelihood of being prescribed LLT (p=.008, eta squared (ηOverall, there is room for improvement in these aspects of cardiovascular risk prevention for both sexes. Sex differences in the prescription of LLT therapy, the prevalence of lipid profile monitoring, and likelihood of achieving LDL-C targets exist among patients with AAA, with a lower prevalence in women. |
