THURSDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Two kinds of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs -- Crestor and Lipitor -- may reduce important heart disease risk factors in Hispanic Americans, new research shows.
The findings were presented Thursday at the American Heart Association's annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in Phoenix. The study was funded by AstraZeneca, the maker of Crestor.
The study included 635 volunteers, whose blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and LDL "bad" cholesterol were measured before and after treatment. CRP is a marker of inflammation, and high levels of CRP correlate with increased risk of coronary heart disease.
All the volunteers had LDL levels of 130 milligrams per deciliter at the start of the study, which put them at high risk for having a coronary event within the next 10 years.
The volunteers were divided into four groups. One group received 10 milligrams of Lipitor, made by Pfizer Inc., daily for six weeks; a second group received 20 milligrams of Lipitor; the third group received 10 milligrams of Crestor; and the fourth group received 20 milligrams of Crestor.
"LDL levels fell significantly in all four statin-treatment groups after six weeks. Crestor, at both doses, reduced LDL significantly more than Lipitor did at the same dose. Both the drugs had similar effects on the participants' CRP levels," study author Dr. Ramon Luis Lloret, cardiologist and president of the Cardiovascular Center of South Florida, said in a prepared statement.
The average overall CRP level among the participants was 2.5 mg/L at the start of the study. More than half of them had CRP levels higher than 2 mg/L, putting them at much greater risk for coronary disease than people with CRP levels lower than 2 mg/L.
Participants taking 10 milligrams a day of Crestor had an average CRP reduction of 18.8 percent, compared with 16.8 percent for those taking the same dose of Lipitor. In the 20-milligram groups, the average CPR reduction was 26.7 percent for Crestor after six weeks, compared with 23.8 percent for Lipitor.
CRP reductions were greatest among patients who had CPR levels higher than 2mg/L at the start of the study.
The drugs were well-tolerated, and there were no serious side effects such as muscle or kidney problems sometimes seen in patients taking statins, Lloret said.
"Despite Hispanics being the fastest- growing minority in the United States, there are relatively little data in large-scale studies about treating cardiovascular risk factors in this population. The findings were important because Hispanics are under-diagnosed and under-treated for heart disease," he said.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about statins.
Comment by Elizabeth G. Nabel M.D.
