Evaluation of perceptions, knowledge and compliance with guidelines in real-life practice: A survey on the under-treatment of hypercholesterolemia

Few studies have directly assessed suboptimal management of dyslipidemia in Turkey. This study was conducted to assess patients' understanding and perceptions of high cholesterol as well as physicians' knowledge and awareness of lipid management strategies. This was a multicenter, observational study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02608645). Consecutive patients admitted to the participating cardiology clinics who were at least 18 years of age and who had been classified in a secondary prevention (SP) group or a high-risk primary prevention (PP) group were enrolled. The study population included 1868 patients from 40 sites in Turkey. Two-thirds (67.5%) of the patients in the SP group had been prescribed a statin, whereas only 30.1% of the PP group patients received statin therapy (p