De Ferrari GM, Stevens SR, Ambrosio G, et al. - Given that an increased risk for cardiovascular (CV) events is seen in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients, and treating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels to ≤ 70 mg/dL (1.8 mM) in patients with T2D and established atherosclerotic CV disease has been recommended by most guidelines, and some suggest a more aggressive target of ≤ 55 mg/dL (1.4 mM), researchers used data from TECOS in order to evaluate the degree to which these LDL-C targets are attained in routine practice. TECOS is an international pragmatic CV outcomes trial of sitagliptin compared with placebo. LDL-C was measured at baseline in 11,066 of 14,671 TECOS participants (75.4%). Participants included 72% male, with median age 65 years. Findings revealed that lipid-lowering therapy was being received by most high-risk patients with T2D and CV disease but experts detected LDL-C < 70 mg/dL in only 1:3 and LDL-C < 55 mg/dL in 1:6. In relation to each 10 mg/dL higher LDL-C value, they identified a 5% and 6% higher 5-year incidence of major adverse cardiac events and CV death, respectively.