Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research

Unfortunately, in the majority of post-MI patients, lipidlowering therapy does not get initiated during outpatient follow-up. A similar situation exists for ß-blocker use in patients with Post MI with significant left ventricular systolic dysfunction with or without heart failure. Based on the scientific evidence demonstrating that immediately after hospital initiation of lipid-lowering and other cardiovascular protective medications resulted in a marked increase in treatment rates, improved long-term patient compliance, and improved clinical outcomes, this approach has been integrated into the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III), American Heart Association (AHA)/American College of Cardiology (ACC) Secondary Prevention Guidelines and ACC/AHA Acute Coronary Syndromes Guidelines and is now considered the standard of care. The under-use of cardiovascular protective therapies in patients after acute MI represents a major clinical practice and public-health issue. This guideline will review the rationale for immediately initiation of cardiovascular protective therapies in Post- MI patients, describe successful outpatient-based programs that have been demonstrated to improve treatment rates.
Abstract
We summarized both the evidence and expert opinion and provide final recommendations for patient evaluation and therapy. Be aware, that usefulness/efficacy of this guideline in some cases should be in accordance with physician’s opinion, intuition, and knowledge as well as with personal experience.
A complete list of the thousands of publications on various aspects of this subject is beyond the scope of these Guidelines; only selected references are included.
To achieve constant improvement of Guidelines we encouraging providers to complete PMIW (post-MI Worksheet), designed to educate patients, care-  givers and to collect important evidence-based information, progress, and statistic for further evaluation to improve post-MI care in Outpatient Clinic or Physician’s Office.