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Abstract: This 70-year-old male patient was diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia after an occasional physical examination revealed elevated blood cholesterol levels. The patient had no conscious symptoms, a previous history of hypertension for 10 years, and occasional elevated blood uric acid, but had been taking regular antihypertensive medication with good blood pressure control, and his condition was subsequently controlled by standardized oral lipid-lowering medication.
Basic information】Male, 70 years old
Disease Type】 Hypercholesterolemia
Hospital】Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University
Date of consultation】April 2022
Treatment plan】Medication (atorvastatin calcium tablets)
Treatment Period】3 months of outpatient treatment
Treatment effect] The disease was controlled
I. Initial consultation
The patient is 70 years old, male, usually pays more attention to his health, no bad habits, quit smoking and alcohol, pay attention to exercise every day, 30-40 minutes per exercise, 3-4 times a week after exercise to slightly sweat as a principle. He came to our hospital after an occasional physical examination revealed elevated blood cholesterol levels and elevated triglyceride levels. The patient said that he usually did not have headache or dizziness. He had a past history of hypertension for more than 10 years, but he was more careful to eat a light and non-salty diet, and usually limited the consumption of lipids, such as egg yolk and animal offal.
II. Treatment history
After the patient was admitted to the hospital, he was given relevant tests, and the results indicated that the LDL cholesterol was 5.58 mmol/L and the triglyceride level was 3.46 mmol/L. The patient was initially diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia. The patient was instructed to control his diet and to control his intake of dessert foods, because excessive calories can be converted into lipids in the liver after entering the body, and to increase a certain amount of exercise. Considering the patient’s age, he was advised to do some light exercises, including walking and jogging, but not strenuous exercises, and to take atorvastatin calcium tablets daily.
III. Treatment effect
The patient’s LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels decreased one month after the treatment with diet, exercise and lipid-lowering drugs, and no adverse drug reactions occurred during the medication period, and the patient was advised to continue the regular medication. 3 months later, the patient was examined again, and the LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels basically returned to normal.
IV. Precautions
I was happy that the patient’s LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were restored. However, the patient should be advised to eat less food with high oil, sugar and fat, and more green vegetables with rich dietary fiber, and more mixed grains and coarse grains with rich dietary fiber in the main food to avoid excessive dietary control of intake.
V. Personal insight
Most patients with hypercholesterolemia, like the patient in this article, generally do not show obvious clinical symptoms and signs. When atherosclerosis is severe and blood supply to the brain is reduced, patients may experience headaches and dizziness, etc. Most patients with hypercholesterolemia are found during incidental physical examinations, and intervention must be made for elevated lipids to reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
This patient has no clinical symptoms or signs, but the patient is at the age of 70 and is at high risk for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular occurrences, so it is important to be more vigilant about lipid control and try to keep them within the normal range to reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.