Dyslipoproteinaemia in the Elderly

Overview

Dyslipoproteinaemia as one among classical risk factors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disea-ses has been involved also in the aged. The predictive value of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol,HDL-cholesterol, triacylglycerols and lipoprotein (a) is preserved. There are several objectivedata from post-hoc analyses of prospective clinical studies AFCAPS/TexCAPS, 4S, CARE, LIPIDa WOSCOPS, which addressed the need of treatment of dyslipoproteinaemia in the aged. Theguidelines are not unique, but they stress an individual approach. We usually continue to treatgenetic forms of dyslipidaemia. Candidates of treatment are also patients with diagnose of coro-nary heart disease (CHD) and sublinic form of CHD, where the treatment has been effectivewithin two years and lead to decrease of CHD risk up to 45 %. The individuals with CHD andother CHD risk factors absent would be treated less often. The diet is an basic treatment option ofhypolipidemic intervention in the elderly. We do not omit exercise. The pharmacotherapy ofdyslipidaemia is used for the individuals with high risk. We usually start with lower dose offibrates or statins and monitor for adverse effects of such therapy.

Key words:
Hyperlipidaemia - Coronary heart disease - Atherosclerosis - Gerontology - Aging.