Comments on the 2011 ESC/EAS guidelines for the management of dyslipidemias. A report of the Task Force of the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee of the Spanish Society of Cardiology

In line with the new philosophy on clinical practice guidelines adopted by the executive committee of the Sociedad Espanola de Cardiologia (SEC: Spanish Society of Cardiology), which was explained and justifi ed in a recent document published in the Revista Espanola de Cardiologia (REC),1 this article has the objective of discussing the most important and novel aspects of the guidelines on the management of dyslipidemias but without attempting to replace them. A joint effort by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS),2 these guidelines updated the old protocols for treating dyslipidemias developed by the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (NCEP-ATP III) and published in 2001 (summary) and 2002 (complete text),3 with a minor update in 2004.4 In Spain, recommendations from the Comite Espanol Interdisciplinario para la Prevencion Cardiovascular (CEIPC) have been used more recently,5 with the approval of the Spain’s Health Ministry and the participation of the SEC, although in this Spanish guideline dyslipidemia is just one section of the general recommendations on cardiovascular prevention.