Statins’ anti-inflammatory properties confirmed
STATINS reduce C-reactive protein (CRP), a measure
of inflammation and a predictor of cardiovascular risk, independently
of reductions in low-density lipoprotein, the findings of the PRINCE study
have confirmed.
Subjects involved in the pravastatin inflammation/CRP
evaluation study, were divided into two groups — those who required primary
prevention against cardiovascular disease (n=1,702) and those for whom
secondary prevention was needed (n=1,182). Patients in the primary prevention
arm of the trial were given either 40mg pravastatin daily or placebo;
those in the secondary prevention arm received 40mg pravastatin daily.
Dr Michelle Albert from the Centre for Cardiovascular
Disease Prevention, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues found that after
24 weeks, patients who had received pravastatin for either primary or
secondary prevention had significant but modest reductions in CRP levels.
Those given placebo had no such reduction.
At 24 weeks, median CRP levels in patients in the
primary prevention group who received pravastatin declined by 14.2 per
cent compared with baseline levels (P<0.001). The equivalent figure
in the secondary prevention group was 13.1 per cent (P=0.003). Patients
in the primary prevention group who received placebo had a median increase
in CRP levels of 2.7 per cent at 24 weeks (P=0.9).
“This effect was seen as early as 12 weeks ...
it appears likely that the reduction in CRP levels is a class effect,”
the researchers say (JAMA 2001;286:64).
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