Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of deaths globally. The primary event instigating atherogenesis is the retention of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) within the arterial wall. Clinical trials have firmly established that lowering plasma LDL-C has beneficial effects on the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases, and that there is no lower limit of LDL-C known to be unsafe. The 2019 ESC/EAS Guidelines for the management of dyslipidaemias have established the definite causality of LDL-C in atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and have incorporated the use of novel treatments.

This issue of FOCUS was curated by Ronen Beeri, Colin Baigent and François Mach to help expand knowledge on dyslipidaemias.