EARLY: Educational Intervention to Improve Patient Awareness on Early LDL-C Lowering in Secondary Prevention

Overview

Cluster Randomized Trial to test the effectiveness of a patient level delivered educational intervention to improve the awareness on the relevance of obtaining LDL cholesterol recommended goals in patients admitted for an acute coronary syndrome, as compared to usual care. Overall, 24 sites (Coronary Care Units) will be included in the study, 12 randomized to the intervention and 12 to usual care. Overall, 240 patients will be enrolled during an acute coronary syndrome hospitalization.

Elevated LDL cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk of adverse events after an acute coronary syndrome. The higher the LDL cholesterol level at patients' admission for acute coronary syndrome, the greater the intensity of lipid-lowering treatment to be adopted to obtain the greatest benefits in terms of reduction of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Despite European Society of Cardiology guideline recommendations to achieve low LDL cholesterol targets in patients with acute coronary syndrome (halving of baseline LDL cholesterol values and reaching LDL cholesterol values \< 55 mg/dl or \< 40 mg/dl in the case of a second event within two years of the first), this is unlikely to happen in clinical practice. Recent observational studies, such as the Da Vinci and Santorini, provide important insights into the practical management of lipid-lowering therapy in post-ACS patients in daily clinical practice, showing that only about 20% of high- or very-high-risk patients achieve guideline-recommended targets. On the other hand, aggressive control of modifiable risk factors could prevent up to 80% of premature deaths related to cardiovascular disease. This underscores the importance of healthcare professionals in maximizing prevention efforts. Improvements in community health could prevent millions of serious cardiovascular events each year if properly implemented. New therapies, such as PCSK9 inhibitors (monoclonal antibodies) or siRNA (inclisiran), offer an option for further and faster LDL cholesterol reduction during the peri- and post-acute coronary syndrome period, associated with a marked improvement in prognosis. However, the use of these pharmacological strategies is currently quite limited in clinical practice. Several conditions account for the reduced "adherence" of clinicians and patients to the recommended therapies. Health disparities due to socioeconomic status, age, race, gender and cost, limited access to healthcare, perceived side effects associated with lipid-lowering therapies, health literacy and the presence of comorbidities, are all factors contributing to the suboptimal use of proposed therapies. Furthermore, clinical factors, including failure to identify patients requiring LDL cholesterol reassessment, insufficient monitoring, and clinical inertia have been associated with an insufficient use of lipid-lowering therapies. Recently, the Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists published a position paper on the treatment of hypercholesterolemia in patients with acute coronary syndrome. In the document, aimed at achieving the lipid targets outlined in the ESC/EAS 2019 guidelines more quickly than those currently recommended (from 8 weeks of the guidelines to 4 weeks of the Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists document with a progressive and sustainable approach) and including new therapeutic options to reduce LDL cholesterol levels, a personalized therapeutic intervention based on LDL cholesterol levels at the time of hospital admission was proposed. As a consequence, implementing lipid-lowering treatments early according to patients' clinical risk and the pharmacological options available to clinicians, while improving patients' awareness of cardiovascular risk, remains one of the primary objectives of the clinical cardiologist in secondary prevention. Technology can effectively serve as an essential aid in achieving therapeutic targets. The introduction of dedicated applications could facilitate doctor-patient communication. On the basis of this evidence, the investigators designed the present study with the aim to evaluate if an educational intervention to improve the awareness on the relevance of obtaining LDL cholesterol recommended goals in patients with confirmed diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome, as compared to usual care can increase the proportion of patients at LDL cholesterol goal as suggested by 2019 ESC/EAS guidelines.