Aggressive treatment of dyslipidemia: a review of supporting evidence.

Clinical trial data are now sufficient to support aggressive treatment of dyslipidemia. Cholesterol-lowering therapy is known to reduce the risk of clinical events across a wide range of lipid levels, even in patients with "normal" levels. Current data support lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels at least to those recommended by the National Cholesterol Education Program, but perhaps even more aggressively in some patients. Of the available cholesterol-lowering agents, statins produce the greatest reductions in LDL-C levels and coronary events and are currently the best treatment option for most patients.