Statin therapy following myocardial infarction is a pillar of the secondary prevention approach. However, defining a maximally beneficial dosing strategy requires attention to both cardiovascular outcomes and to the potentially unsavory clinical adverse effects of high-dose therapy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine (SEARCH) Collaborative Group et al. Intensive lowering of LDL cholesterol with 80 mg versus 20 mg simvastatin daily in 12,064 survivors of myocardial infarction: a double-blind randomised trial. Lancet 376, 1658–1669 (2010).
Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group. MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of cholesterol lowering with simvastatin in 20,536 high-risk individuals: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 360, 7–22 (2002).
Neuvonen, P. J., Kantola, T. & Kivistö, K. T. Simvastatin but not pravastatin is very susceptible to interaction with the CYP3A4 inhibitor itraconazole. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 63, 332–41 (1998).
Roten, L., Schoenenberger, R. A., Krähenbühl, S. & Schlienger, R. G. Rhabdomyolysis in association with simvastatin and amiodarone. Ann Pharmacother. 38, 978–981(2004).
Hansten, P. D. Possible risks to patients receiving statins combined with other medications. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 41, 519–520 (2003).
Armitage, J., Baigent, C., Chen, Z. & Landray, M. A randomized trial of the long-term clinical effects of raising HDL cholesterol with extended release niacin/laropiprant [online], http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00461630 (2010).
Brown, B. G, McBride, R., Boden, W.E. & Probstfield, J., AIM HIGH: niacin plus statin to prevent vascular events [online], http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00120289 (2010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Muñoz, D., Blumenthal, R. Statins for secondary prevention: might less in fact be more?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 7, 131–132 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.17
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.17
This article is cited by
-
Comprehensive Lipid Management in the Coronary Artery Disease Patient
Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports (2011)