CARDIOVASCULAR NEWS

Efficacy of Atorvastatin 80 mg and Pravastatin LDL 40 mg in reducing Cholesterol <70 mg/dl
and C-Reactive Protein <2 mg/L

While secondary prevention guidelines for statin therapy suggest lowering LDL-C levels <70 mg/dl, it has been shown that clinical outcomes are improved when CRP levels are also lowered <2 mg/l. Therefore, a study was undertaken to compare the relative efficacy of different statin regimens in achieving the dual goals of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and C-reactive protein (CRP) reduction.

The relative efficacy of pravastatin 40 mg and atorvastatin 80 mg daily to reduce LDL-C and CRP among 3,745 acute coronary syndrome patients was analyzed. A total of 1,018 participants (27.1%) achieved the dual goals of LDL-C <70 mg/dl and CRP <2 mg/l. After adjustment for age, gender, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and HDL-C, these individuals had a 28% lower risk of recurrent myocardial infarction or vascular death (relative risk = 0.72; 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.99). Of those who achieved dual goals, 80.6% received atorvastatin 80 mg, while 19.4% received pravastatin 40 mg (p < 0.001). Only 11% allocated pravastatin and 44% allocated atorvastatin achieved the goals of LDL-C <70 mg/dl and CRP <2 mg/l, and only 5.8% allocated pravastatin 40 mg and 26.1% allocated atorvastatin 80 mg reached the even lower goals of LDL-C <70 mg/dl and CRP <1 mg/l. The correlation coefficient for CRP measured at 30 days and at end of study was 0.61 (p < 0.001), a value almost identical to that for LDL-C over the same follow-up period (r = 0.62, p < 0.001).

While atorvastatin 80 mg was superior to pravastatin 40 mg in terms of achieving the dual goals of aggressive LDL-C and CRP reduction, neither agent brought the majority of patients below thresholds needed to maximize patient benefit.

J Am Coll Cardiol. 2005; 45: 1644-1648