The Anti-Atherosclerotic Effects of Lipid Lowering with Atorvastatin in Patients with Hypercholesterolemia

Abstract

We investigated the lipid lowering and anti-atherosclerotic effects of atorvastatin in patients with hypercholesterolemia. Thirty patients were given atorvastatin 10 mg daily, and assessed for serum lipids, intima-media thickness (IMT), and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) at the baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Remnant-like particle-cholesterol (RLP-C), lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured in some patients at the baseline and at 6 months. Total cholesterol, triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly decreased by 32%, 23% and 44% at 6 months, respectively, and these effects were sustained at 12 months. There was no change in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. IMT at the baseline was 0.

Arterial Stiffness in Patients with Non-Diabetic Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

“…Vascular calcification and increased arterial stiffness are associated with reduced baroreflex sensitivity, potentially producing short-term dysregulation of blood pressure 26) . Although, in our study, treatment with ARBs or statins was not associated with improvement in the severity of arterial stiffness in non-diabetic CKD patients, recent studies have found that longterm blockade of the renin-angiotensin system might prevent increased arterial stiffness and vascular calcification and thereby reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events [27][28][29] . Thus, evaluation of the effects of treatment with ARBs or statins should include a longer follow-up period for precise determination of the significance of arterial stiffness and vascular calcification.…”

Pitavastatin Improves Plasma Pentraxin 3 and Arterial Stiffness in Atherosclerotic Patients with Hypercholesterolemia

“…Yokoyama et al showed that fluvastatin treatment at 40 mg daily for 12 months produced a significant decrease of PWV 19) . On the other hand, Ozaki et al reported that atorvastatin treatment at 10 mg daily significantly reduced hsCRP at 6 months, but had no significant effect on baPWV 20) . A comparative study among pravastatin, simvastatin and fluvastatin showed that although serum hsCRP levels decreased significantly in all three statin groups, the effects on PWV differed among the three drugs after a 12-month treatment period: PWV showed no change in the pravastatin group, was transiently reduced in the simvastatin group, and was significantly decreased in the fluvastatin group 21) .…”

Endogenous sex hormone levels in postmenopausal women undergoing carotid artery endarterectomy

“…Women with surgical menopause (bilateral oophorectomy), hormone replacement therapy, thyroid disorders, digitalis and corticoid intake, autoimmune or systemic disease, gonadal disorder, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), active malign process, recent (!1 month) severe infection, and recent (!1 month) stroke were excluded. Women taking lipidlowering agents or antihypertensives that might have an influence on the arterial intima media thickness (IMT) were not excluded because the extremely limited decrease of IMT observed in several studies (13,14) did not significantly influence the grade of ICA stenosis.…”