Statin prescription rates and their facility-level variation in patients with peripheral artery disease and ischemic cerebrovascular disease: Insights from the Department of Veterans Affairs

The 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association cholesterol guideline recommends moderate to high-intensity statin therapy in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD). We examined frequency and facility-level variation in any statin prescription and in guideline-concordant statin prescriptions in patients with PAD and ICVD receiving primary care in 130 facilities across the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system between October 2013 and September 2014. Guideline-concordant statin intensity was defined as the prescription of high-intensity statins in patients with PAD or ICVD ≤75 years and at least moderate-intensity statins in those >75 years. We calculated median rate ratios (MRR) after adjusting for patient demographic factors to assess the magnitude of facility-level variation in statin prescribing patterns independent of patient characteristics. Among 194,151 PAD patients, 153,438 patients (79.0%) were prescribed any statin and 79,435 (40.9%) were prescribed a guideline-concordant intensity of statin. PAD patients without ischemic heart disease were prescribed any statin and a guideline-concordant intensity of statin therapy less frequently (69.1% and 28.9%, respectively). Among 339,771 ICVD patients, 265,491 (78.1%) were prescribed any statin and 136,430 (40.2%) were prescribed a guideline-concordant intensity of statin. ICVD patients without ischemic heart disease were prescribed any statin and a guideline-concordant intensity of statin less frequently (70.9% and 30.5%, respectively). MRRs for both PAD and ICVD patients demonstrated a 20% and 28% variation among two facilities in treating two identical patients with statin therapy and guideline-concordant intensity of statin therapy, respectively. The prescription of statins, especially guideline-recommended intensity of statin therapy, is suboptimal in PAD and ICVD patients, with significant facility-level variation not explained by patient-level factors.