Statins benefit peripheral arterial disease

Wednesday September 4th, 2019

Adhering to statin treatment can reduce the risk of death among patients with peripheral arterial disease, Swiss researchers have reported.

All patients with this condition are recommended to take statins, to limit the risk of a stroke or heart attack due to the leg arteries being clogged. The drug works by reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which causes atherosclerosis.

However, only 57% of patients take the medication as prescribed, meaning that just a third of patients on statins stay below the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol target.

So Dr Jorn Dopheide of Bern University Hospital, Switzerland, and colleagues looked at the impact of this low adherence to statins.

They analysed figures on 691 patients with peripheral arterial disease, seen between 2010 and 2017, and followed them for about 50 months.

Over the course of the study, the rate of patients on statins rose from 73% to 81%, and the prescribed doses also increased, leading to a reduction in average low-density lipoprotein rates.

The researchers report: “Patients who stopped taking a statin had a similar mortality rate (33%) to those who never took the drug (34%). Adhering to statins throughout the 50 months was linked with a 20% rate of death.”

Patients who took high-dose statins throughout the study had the lowest mortality rate (10%), whereas reducing the dose over time was related to the highest death rate (43%).

Details were presented yesterday (3 September) at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2019 held from 31 August to 4 September in Paris, France.

Dr Dopheide says: “The study shows that adherence to statins is essential for the best prognosis. We also show that it is never too late to start medication and benefit from it.”

He believes that all patients should take statins, ideally rosuvastatin 40mg or atorvastatin 80mg, or “at the highest tolerable dose”.

Tags: Europe | Heart Health | Pharmaceuticals

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