Simvastatin normalizes qtc dispersion and reduces ventricular electrical instability in isolated hypercholesterolemia.
This study aimed at evaluating a possible relationship between cholesterol levels and ventricular electrical instability in human beings. Forty subjects (26 males and 14 females, mean age+/-SD 50.3+/-3.7 yr) with isolated hypercholesterolemia (> or =240 mg/dl) were selected from a population of 250 patients who attended the outpatient department of our institution for symptomatic extrasystolic activity (ventricular premature complexes >3,000/24 h). Subjects were randomly assigned to receive either simvastatin 40 mg/d or placebo for 3 consecutive months. After treatment, subjects in the simvastatin group presented a significant decrease of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (p<0.001) and an increase of HDL-cholesterol levels (p<0.01), associated with a reduction of both QTc dispersion (p<0.001) and ventricular premature complexes (p<0.001). None of these changes were observed in the placebo group. At baseline, there was a relationship between cholesterol levels, ventricular premature complexes (VPC) (r=0.33, p<0.05) and QTc dispersion (r=0.41, p<0.01). After treatment, reductions in serum cholesterol levels correlated with decreases of both VPCs (r=0.37, p<0.01) and QTc dispersion (r=0.49, p<0.01). In subjects with isolated hypercholesterolemia simvastatin may reduce the cardiovascular risk associated with ventricular electrical instability.
Department of Geriatrics and Metabolic Diseases, Second University of Naples, Italy.
P
P
Gualdiero
K
K
Esposito
M
M
Ciotola
R
R
Marfella
D
D
Giugliano
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010919:Placebos; D019821:Simvastatin / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D010919:Placebos; D002784:Cholesterol; D019821:Simvastatin