Who should attend:

• Clinical faculty from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
• Clinical staff pharmacists employed by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and deployed throughout the hospital campus in unit based roles and centrally in the department of pharmacy's main pharmacy
• Student pharmacy interns currently working within the department of pharmacy
• Certified Pharmacy Technicians

Upon successful completion of this continuing pharmacy education program, the participant should be able to:

• List 2 benefits of statin use for primary prevention in older patients
• List 2 patient specific factors that may cause statin risk to outweigh benefit in older patients
• Select a specific age at which to consider discontinuing or avoid initiating a statin for primary prevention in a nondiabetic population.

Abstract
Statin initiation and continuation in older patients without prior atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains an area of controversy. While several trials have discovered mortality and cardiovascular benefits associated with using statins for primary prevention in patients at high risk, few of these trials included a significant geriatric population. The commonly used 2013 ASCVD pooled cohort equation only calculates ASCVD risk scores for patients <75 years old. Finally, existing national guidelines do not provide recommendations regarding patients ≥75 years old, but rather suggest that providers examine individual patient risk factors, life expectancy, and patient preference.


This presentation will examine the current literature regarding the potential benefits and risks of statin use in older patients, define specific situations in which risks may outweigh statin benefits, and determine specific age ranges at which to consider discontinuing or avoid initiating a statin for primary prevention.

Pharmacy Continuing Education Credits This program is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences. The University of Pittsburgh Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a Provider of continuing pharmacy education. The assigned universal program number(s) is JA4008223-0000-20-004-H01-P. This module is a webcast of an ACPE approved live presentation. The minimum credit awarded for this module (1 contact hour) is determined by the length of the entire live presentation inclusive of the post-test.

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