How can patients with coronary artery disease control their blood lipids?

  The National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that all patients with coronary artery disease should have LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels measured; all patients with coronary artery disease with a combination of low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides should have their lifestyle changed.  Unless triglycerides are ≥500 mg/dl (at which point fibrates should be preferred to lower triglycerides and prevent pancreatitis), the primary goal of lipid-regulating therapy in such patients remains LDL cholesterol, which should first be lowered to levels below 100 mg/dl or lower, while raising HDL cholesterol to above 40 mg/dl if possible. The World Health Organization guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention (2007) state that long-term or even lifelong statin therapy is recommended for all patients with coronary artery disease, and that the ideal target values for total cholesterol should be <155 mg/dl and LDL cholesterol <80 mg/dl.