Syed Zahed Rasheed, Shafiq Ahmed, Abdus Samad.
Effect of Statins on Triglycerides in the management of Hypercholesterolemia in patients with Coronary Heart Disease.
Pak J Cardiol Jan ;13(3-4):65-72.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Effective treatment of hyperlipidemia can prevent development of CHD and significantly reduce the risk for cardiovascular events and mortality. The association between LDL cholesterol and CHD risk is well estalished. Low levels of HDL cholesterol and high levels of triglycerides are also strong risk factors of CHD. Statins are the drug of choice for lowering LDL-cholesterol. In this study we have assessed the effect of various statins on triglycerides levels in the management of hypercholesterolemia in patients with CHD. The data of 179 patients were assessed retrospectively. 131(73.18 %) were male and 48 (26.82%) were female patients. The mean age of these patients was 52.07 ± 9.2 years. The mean trigyceride levels were 202.35 ± 154.32 mg/dl before and 172.39 ± 38.45 mg/dl after statins therapy showing a reduction of 29.96 mg/dl (14.81%). This difference is significant statistically (p=0.007). Atorvastatin was given to only 2 (1.12%) patients. The mean triglyceride levels were 210.00 +/- 37.59 mg/dl and 154.00 ± 9.89 mg/dl before and after atorvastatin therapy. Cerivastatin was used in 14 (7.82 %) patients which reduces triglycerides by 19.93 mg/dl (9.85%) (p=0.157). Fluvastatin was used in 37 (20.67%) patients which lowers triglycerides by 23.87 mg/dl (12.43%) (p=0.050). In 25 (13.97%) patients lovastatin was given and this reduces triglycerides levels by 18.54 mg/dl (10.21 %) (p=0.106). Simvastatin was used in 101 (56.42%). It results in reduction of 16.09 mg/dl (8.35%) in triglycerides level which is highly significant statistically (p=0.0001). We conclude all statins lower triglycerides levels in patients with hypercholesterolemia. This effect is more marked with simvastatin and fluvastatin than other statins.

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