European physicians tend to always use the lowest dose of statins to initiate therapy even in subjects who require large reductions in cholesterol. The study evaluates if selecting the starting dose based on baseline and target LDL-C cholesterol would provide better results (ie proportion of subjects resching target)

Inclusion Criteria:

• High cholesterol blood levels (LDL-cholesterol above 100 mg/dL up to 220 mg/dL.
• Triglycerides up to 600 mg/dL.
• History of coronary artery disease (ex.: heart attack, angina), stroke, diabetes or at high risk of such events.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnancy or lactation, use of high statin doses (>40mg) at baseline, liver or renal problems
• Use of other drugs that would interfere with evaluation of efficacy or cause safety problems
• Uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes or hypothyroidism
• Recent cardiac event of procedure
• High baseline CPK levels