“This non-interventional study will help us understand if the medication patients are taking to lower their cholesterol is working and if they are achieving their target cholesterol goals, and more especially if they even know their target treatment goals,” Prof Haus said.
While all human beings are born with a certain degree of cholesterol, it is understood that cholesterol increases or decreases with the kind of lifestyle people live.
The study, dubbed Centralised pan-South African Survey on the under-treatment of hypercholesterolaemia (CEPHEUS), will consist of 2000 patients from the private health system and 1000 from the public sector drawn from 70 sites around the country.
This will ensure a fully representative study sample, he pointed out.
Patients from any race and gender of 18 year-old or older will be surveyed, given that they provide informed consent and have been on any lipid lowering drug treatment for at least three months, with no dose change for a minimum of six weeks, the company said.
The results of the study are expected in the third quarter of 2010 and will be published in medical journals and in various press outlets.
Hypercholesterol increases the risk of CVD (cardiovascular disease or the silent killer), and reports say that more than 5 million South Africans adults are said to be suffering from hypercholesterolaemia (figures for 2000). Current statistics were not available at the time of going to press.
It is estimated that about 17.5 million die of CVD worldwide every year.
Prof Derick Raal, clinical investigator in charge of the study committee, said: “Currently accepted cholesterol goals are a total reading of 5mmol/L with a Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol level of 3mmol/L, according to European guidelines, but local figures estimate that 4% of men and 5% of women over the age of 30 die because of the impact of high blood cholesterol.
“The LDL-cholesterol we are born with is approximately 1 mmol/L and, in my opinion, this is a goal we should be working towards if we want to eliminate CVD. This certainly is the approach I adopt when treating high-risk patients,” Raal said, adding that trials like CEPHEUS will have the potential to save lives and change the implementation of current guidelines.
Dr Jasvanti Bhana, AstraZeneca SA senior manager of medical and regulatory affairs, said: “Diabetic patients are at high risk of CVD and even though people are on treatment, it is not helping because only half of the patients are controlled and others are not. That is why it is critical that we conduct this study.”
Dr Colin Schamroth, specialist cardiologist at Milpark Hospital, said: “We tend to feel that we are better when we take some pills or do a 5km walk, but until we test and look for it, we are getting to a stage of complacency, just like HIV.”
