OBJECTIVES: To assess clinical outcomes including (1) National Cholesterol Education Panel (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel II goal attainment, and (2) % low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) reduction in a patient population treated with antihyperlipidemic medications. METHODS: Medical charts were utilized to collect demographic and clinical data from a random sample of patients receiving lipid-lowering therapy at two managed care sites in the southeastern United States from April 1997 to July 1998. Stratified univariate statistics and chi-square tests were performed. RESULTS: Data from 531 patients were analyzed, 287 (54%) of whom were women. The mean age at baseline was 63.7 years. Drug utilization was as follows: 123 (22.8%) were being treated with atorvastatin, 69 (12.8%) with fluvastatin, 42 (7.8%) with lovastatin, 158 (29.3%) with pravastatin, 129 (23.9%) with simvastatin, and 10 (2%) with other agents. Due to small sample size, only mean LDL-C reductions for each drug are presented. Mean LDL-C reduction among patients receiving atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, and simvastatin, respectively, was 25.4%, 22.9%, 11.1%, 22.1%, and 26.2%. The corresponding percentages of patients who met their NCEP treatment targets were 57.3%, 50.8%, 34.2%, 50.7%, and 48%, respectively. The number of patients overall who met their respective NCEP goals was 265 (50%). CONCLUSIONS: Most agents showed similar activity with regard to NCEP goal attainment. Further work will be required to determine whether the observed similarities in NCEP goal attainment will be reflected in other outcome measures.