Comparison between high versus moderate or low doses of statins in preventing cardiovascular events

This study investigated whether higher doses of statins significantly improved cardiovascular outcomes compared to moderate or low doses.

Statins are a group of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels in the body. They notably reduce LDL-cholesterol levels, commonly referred to as the "bad" cholesterol. Statin treatment results in an overall reduction of cardiovascular risk and is commonly prescribed to patients with coronary artery disease. Examples of statin drugs include: atorvastatin (Lipitor), rosuvastatin (Crestor), simvastatin (Zocor) etc.

Statins are given to patients depending on the desired reduction in LDL-cholesterol. According to the dosages used, there are high, moderate and low-intensity statin regimens. The high-intensity regimens reduce LDL-cholesterol by more than 40%, moderate-intensity by 30-40% and low-intensity by <30%.

The present study analyzed data published in the medical literature on a total of 175,232 patients treated with statin regimens of different intensities. Patients took part in 46 different studies looking at the benefits of statin treatments in reducing cardiovascular risk.

Results showed that intensive treatment with high doses of statins lowered the number of cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke etc.). However, overall mortality was not reduced with the high-intensity regimens compared to moderate and low-intensity regimens. The desired effect of lowering LDL-cholesterol and the number of cardiovascular events was achieved in most cases by using moderate intensity treatments. High doses of statins were associated with more side-effects such as muscle pain and liver test abnormalities.

High doses of statins do not seem to offer a significant benefit over moderate or low doses in reducing cardiovascular mortality.

Although this was a very large analysis, results were derived from data published by many researchers. The studies included in this analysis had different inclusion criteria and methodology.

You should talk to your doctor about setting specific goals for your LDL-cholesterol and the appropriate statin doses required.