Assessment Of LDL-cholesterol Levels Before and After Clinical Pharmacist’s Treatment Recommendations
Galia ZACAY, Noga FALLACH, Olga BRAYMAN TKACH, Avi SWED, Matan BLAT, Victor GROSS, Yaakov NAPARSTEK, Hilla KNOBLER, Oren SAVIT and Hagit GAL
Individuals who have suffered a cardiovascular event face an elevated risk of experiencing another such event. Secondary prevention strategies also involve medications aimed at reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, which play a key role in cardiovascular disease management. However, despite therapy, a significant portion of patients do not achieve the LDL-C targets recommended by guidelines and may need further interventions. To enhance hyperlipidemia treatment for its members, clinical pharmacists provided targeted consultations to primary care physicians (PCPs). These consultations focused on patients who had a history of cardiovascular events and remained above the LDL-C goal of 55 mg/dL despite receiving high-intensity statin therapy.This study evaluated the relationship between clinical pharmacist consultations and improvements in LDL-C control. The program received support from Novartis Israel Ltd.From March 2023 to May 2025, an observational cohort study was conducted using data from a large HMOs electronic medical record, including patients whose PCPs received consultations. The main objective was to determine the proportion of patients who did and did not apply their given recommendation, that reached target LDL-C levels over time. T-tests were conducted to evaluate change in LDL-C levels at 6 month time points compared to the baseline measurement.Consultations were given to PCPs of 1289 patients, 78% males with a median age of 67 (IQR 60-74), 626 (49%) of who applied their given recommendation. The proportion of patients who achieved target levels increased over time with higher proportions observed among the applied sub-group of patients. LDL-C levels were statistically significantly reduced from baseline to follow-up periods among the applied population with average percentage decrease of 20-26%.These findings suggest that targeted clinical pharmacist consultations may assist in LDL‑C reduction among high‑risk patients who remain above guideline‑recommended targets. Patients whose physicians applied the recommendations demonstrated greater improvements, highlighting the value of pharmacist–physician collaboration in secondary prevention. Future research should explore long‑term cardiovascular outcomes and identify barriers to implementing recommendations.LDL-C levels continuously reduced following clinical pharmacists' consultations regarding treatment among patients who had not reached recommended levels of LDL-C, with higher reductions observed among patients who applied the recommendation more broadly.
