PROCYON was a two-part online survey, including a patient questionnaire as well as a physician questionnaire.
RESULTS: A total of 109 general practitioners, internists, and cardiologists participated. The current ESC/EAS recommendation for high-risk patients is followed by 19.3% of the physicians. The majority (80.7%) reported an
LDL-C target failure rate of at least 30%. More than two thirds (71.6%) have stated treating less than half of their patients with the maximum approved
statin dose. The survey included 1696
secondary prevention patients. The majority (86.7%) consult their general practitioner for
hypercholesterolemia; 54.0% consult a cardiologist (multiple answers allowed). Most patients (87.0%) were receiving
lipid-lowering medication. Among these, 800 (54.2%) reported improved
LDL-C levels since diagnosis, 569 (38.6%) reported no improvement, and 106 (7.2%) had no information. Of the treated patients with (N' = 800) and without (N' = 569) improvement, 34.3% vs. 37.3% were on their initial
drug and dose, 24.8% vs. 23.7% received multiple
drug therapy, 48.9% vs. 48.9% reported a dose change, and 16.1% vs. 14.2% had discontinued at least one
drug (multiple answers). Disease knowledge was rated as good or very good by 29.8% of patients.
CONCLUSION: PROCYON demonstrated insufficient ESC/EAS guideline implementation regarding target levels and therapeutic escalation strategies. Furthermore, a lack of specialist involvement and patient education was identified.