Premium
Daily Dosing versus Alternate‐Day Dosing of Simvastatin in Patients with Hypercholesterolemia
Author(s) -
Copher Heather R.,
Stewart Robert D.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
pharmacotherapy: the journal of human pharmacology and drug therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.227
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1875-9114
pISSN - 0277-0008
DOI - 10.1592/phco.22.13.1110.33518
Subject(s) - dosing , simvastatin , medicine , regimen , hyperlipidemia , pharmacology , endocrinology , diabetes mellitus
Study Objective. To compare the efficacy of daily simvastatin administration with that of alternate‐day therapy at double the daily dose. Design. Nonrandomized, before‐after comparison trial. Setting. Outpatient clinic of a Veterans Affairs medical center. Patients. Fifteen men with hyperlipidemia. Intervention. The simvastatin regimen for patients with a low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) level at their established National Cholesterol Education Program goal was converted from daily dosing to double the daily dose given every other day for 8 weeks. Measurements and Main Results. Baseline laboratory values were obtained for patients receiving daily simvastatin therapy. After 8 weeks of alternate‐day therapy, follow‐up laboratory values were obtained and assessed for efficacy and toxicity. The LDL‐lowering effect of the daily dosing regimen was compared with that of the alternate‐day dosing regimen. Paired t tests were computed to compare LDL concentrations before and after the study using a 95% confidence interval. No statistically significant difference was observed. Conclusion. Alternate‐day dosing of simvastatin may be an effective alternative to daily dosing. (Pharmacotherapy 2002;22(9):1110–1116)