Statin Reduces Heart Attack, Stroke Rates in Patients With Normal Cholesterol

but Elevated C-Reactive Protein

Study highlights:

- In a randomized, double-blind study of 17,802 patients with LDL "bad" cholesterol < 130 and C-reactive protein (hsCRP) greater than or equal to 2, those given rosuvastatin over a media of 1.9 years had 31 heart attacks and 33 strokes compared to 68 and 64, respectively, in those on placebo.

- Subgroup analysis showed similar findings across gender, race, ethnicity and Framingham risk score greater than or less than 10 percent.

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A lipid-lowering drug reduced heart attacks by 54 percent in people who had normal cholesterol but elevated levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), according to a study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2008. Rosuvastatin in the Prevention of Cardiovascular Events Among 17,802 Men and Women with Elevated Levels of C-Reactive Protein: the JUPITER Trial was presented as a late-breaking clinical trial. The study was simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Compared to those who received placebo, patients receiving the drug rosuvastatin also had a 48 percent reduction in stroke, a 46 percent reduction in the need for interventions to reopen blocked blood vessels and a 20 percent drop in all-cause mortality," said Paul M. Ridker, M.D., lead author of the study and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.

Patients included in the trial were men over age 50 and women over age 60, with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD), with LDL ("bad" cholesterol) levels <130 mg/dL and hsCRP greater than or equal to 2 mg/L. They could have other risk factors for CVD, such as high blood pressure up to 190/100, obesity, current smoking, abnormal glucose tolerance (but not frank diabetes) and/or the metabolic syndrome, and/or a family history of premature heart disease. About half had a Framingham risk score (FRS) less than or equal to 10 percent and half >10 percent (10 percent to ...   more »

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