Administering fluvastatin immediately after a heart attack was not found to be of benefit in reducing post myocardial infarction ischaemia, say researchers from the Netherlands.
In the FLORIDA (fluvastatin on risk diminishing after acute myocardial infarction) study, researchers randomly assigned 540 patients to receive either fluvastatin 80mg per day or placebo for a year, initiated immediately after a heart attack and continued for one year.
Ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring for 48 hours was performed at baseline, after six weeks (to measure an acute effect) and one year. Dr Anho Liem (cardiologist, University Hospital of Groningen, the Netherlands) and colleagues found that at these intervals ischaemia was present in 12 per cent, 8 per cent and 6 per cent (respectively) of patients on fluvastatin compared with 13 per cent, 6 per cent and 10 per cent (respectively) of patients taking placebo .
They concluded that no overall beneficial effect was seen in patients with low risk post myocardial infarction ischaemia. However, there was a trend towards an early treatment effect in patients with severe ischaemia at baseline.