Open AccessThreshold Level of Low‐Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol for the Short‐Term Benefit of Statin Therapy in the Acute Phase of Myocardial Infarction
Author(s) -
Lee Jang Hoon,
Park Sun Hee,
Yang Dong Heon,
Park Hun Sik,
Cho Yongkeun,
Lee Won Kee,
Jeong Myung Ho,
Kim Young Jo,
Jun Jae Eun,
Chae Shung Chull
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.20984
Subject(s) - mace , medicine , statin , hazard ratio , myocardial infarction , cardiology , confidence interval , simvastatin , percutaneous coronary intervention
Background: Little is known about the threshold level of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) for statin therapy in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Hypothesis: The aim of this study was to investigate the short‐term benefit of the statin in post‐MI patients with low LDL‐C levels. Methods: Between November 2005 and January 2008, 6866 statin‐naive patients were selected from the Korea AMI registry. Major adverse cardiac event (MACE) was defined as a composite of death, recurrent MI, and revascularizations. Results: The 6‐month MACE and mortality showed a U‐shaped curve, with the lowest rate at 114–122 mg/dL. Propensity scores for statin use were calculated for patients with LDL‐C ≤ 113 mg/dL, and they were used to match the patients who received statin (statin user, n = 1031) with those who did not receive it (statin nonuser, n = 1031). The 6‐month MACE was not significantly different between statin users and statin nonusers (9.4% vs 11.0%; hazard ratio [HR]: 0.847, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.646‐1.111, P = 0.230), whereas the 6‐month mortality was significantly lower in statin users (7.2% vs 9.7%; HR: 0.728, 95% CI: 0.539–0.984, P = 0.039). However, when the analyses were repeated in the patients with LDL‐C ≤ 105 mg/dL, not only the 6‐month MACE (9.5% vs 9.9%; HR: 0.945, 95% CI: 0.700–1.277, P = 0.713) but also the 6‐month mortality (7.0% vs 8.7%; HR: 0.793, 95% CI: 0.566–1.111, P = 0.177) was not significantly different between statin users and statin nonusers (n = 876 in each group). Conclusions: The beneficial effects of statin therapy seem to vanish when LDL‐C is below a certain level in AMI patients. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jeong, Kim and Chae received funding from the Korean Society of Cardiology. J.H. Lee, Yang, H.S. Park and Chae received grants from GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.