Drug therapy for lipid disorders. Selecting appropriate lipid-lowering agents.

Lipid abnormalities can be treated effectively with various lipid-lowering agents. However, it bears repeating that no patient with hyperlipidemia should be treated with drugs until an adequate trial of dietary intervention, which may take as long as six months, has been attempted. While knowledge of a patient's precise metabolic and genetic abnormality is often desirable, it generally is not necessary for the institution of lipid-lowering drug therapy. Judicious use of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and total triglyceride measurements is sufficient for selection of the proper drug or drugs. A patient who does not respond should be referred to a specialized lipid center for more sophisticated evaluation and therapy.