Current perspectives on rosuvastatin

Abstract

Rosuvastatin is one of the most potent statins available for reducing circulating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, which enables more high-risk patients to achieve their lipid goals. Its favorable balance of effects on atherogenic and protective lipoproteins and its pleiotropic effects, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and improvement in endothelial dysfunction, are associated with slowing of progression of atherosclerosis within the artery wall and have been translated into clinical benefits for cardiovascular outcomes. This review provides an update on the safety and the efficacy of rosuvastatin in recent large clinical trials. It appears that rosuvastatin has a beneficial effect on the progression of atherosclerosis across the clinical dosage range of 2.5–40 mg. It reduced cardiovascular events in relatively low-risk subjects with elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and normal low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. As with other statins, rosuvastatin did not show overall benefit in terms of survival in patients with heart failure, but certain clinical or biochemical markers reflecting underlying disease characteristics may help to identify subgroups of patients that benefit from statin therapy. In patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing chronic hemodialysis, rosuvastatin had no effect on reducing cardiovascular events. Although there is a slightly increased risk of incident diabetes with this class of agents, the absolute benefits of statin therapy on cardiovascular events overweigh the risk in patients with moderate or high cardiovascular risk or with documented cardiovascular disease. As with other statins, rosuvastatin is an appropriate therapy in addition to antihypertensive treatment to reduce cardiovascular risk in hypertensive patients.

Effect of Stains on LDL Reduction and Liver Safety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…According to the previous studies, the incidence rate of elevation was dose dependent, with rates of 0.2% with 10 mg versus 2.3% with 80 mg [ 30 ]. Patients receiving 20 mg/daily atorvastatin showed a trend of higher transaminases than those were treated with 10 mg/daily [ 31 ]. Our study illustrates that 40 mg/daily statin therapy increases the risk of liver injury by more than 200%.…”

Rosuvastatin attenuates contrast-induced nephropathy through modulation of nitric oxide, inflammatory responses, oxidative stress and apoptosis in diabetic male rats

“…In addition to its beneficial cholesterol lowering effects, rosuvastatin has been shown to protect against inflammatory, oxidant, and thrombotic effects, and may improve endothelial function. These effects of rosuvastatin have been translated into beneficial effects on atherosclerosis and have resulted in a significant reduction in cardiovascular events [ 17 ]. Our recent study reports that rosuvastatin reduces the risk of CIN in DM patients [ 18 ], and Leoncini et al show that patients with renal dysfunction benefited from rosuvastatin therapy [ 19 ].…”