Vnitr Lek 2009, 55(9):802-807

To treat or not to treat with statins patients with chronic heart failure?

J. Hradec

III. interní klinika 1. lékařské fakulty UK a VFN Praha, přednosta prof. MUDr. Štěpán Svačina, DrSc., MBA

Two clinical trials - CORONA and GISSI-HF - have been conducted to resolve uncertainties about the effects of statins in patients with chronic heart failure and justified suspicions that treatment with statins in these patients might be detrimental. The CORONA trial researched the effects of 10 mg rosuvastatin compared to placebo on the incidence of serious cardiovascular events in 5,011 patients with systolic heart failure of ischemic aetiology, above 60 years of age and in the NYHA functional class II-IV. Even though rosuvastatin reduced the mean LDL-cholesterol plasma concentrations by 45.0% (p < 0.001) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentrations by 37.1% (p < 0.001), the incidence of cardiovascular events was not importantly affected (HR = 0.92; p = 0.12). Rosuvastatin had no effect on overall mortality. The treatment resulted only in a reduction of the number of hospitalizations for cardiovascular causes (p < 0.001). The GISSI-HF trial involved 4,574 patients with chronic heart failure irrespective of aetiology and the ejection fraction value randomised to take either 10 mg of rosuvastatin or placebo. The results were almost identical. Rosuvastatin had no effect on the incidence of the primary end-point - the sum of cardiovascular mortality and hospitalizations (HR = 1.01; p = 0.903). The overall mortality was not affected either. Administration of rosuvastatin in both studies was safe, the number of adverse events, including myopathies and renal failure, was no different from placebo. However, recent results from the CORONA trial subtrials have suggested that important interactions exist in patients with chronic heart failure between the effects of rosuvastatin and natriuretic peptide and hsCRP plasma concentrations. Rosuvastatin provides clinical benefit in patients with relatively low concentrations of natriuretic peptides, i.e. relatively well-controlled, while it has no clinical effect in patients with high natriuretic peptide concentrations. Similarly, rosuvastatin provides clinical benefit in patients with high hsCRP but has no effect in patients with normal hsCRP (< 2 mg/l).

Keywords: CORONA study; GISSI-HF trial; rosuvastatin; chronic heart failure; hsCRP; natriuretic peptides

Received: August 2, 2009; Published: September 1, 2009  Show citation