title: Impact of systemic hypertension on the cardiovascular benefits of statin therapy--a meta-analysis.
abstract: The ASCOT-LLA and ALLHAT-LLT trials provide conflicting evidence of the efficacy of statins in decreasing cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality in hypertensive patients. We performed a meta-analysis to compare the overall efficacy of statins in hypertensive and nonhypertensive patients enrolled in major randomized clinical trials. We systematically reviewed PubMed publications from 1985 onward for placebo-controlled randomized trials that examined the effect of statins on cardiac morbidity and mortality. Only trials that followed >or=1,000 patients for >or=2 years were included in the meta-analysis. Outcomes included cardiac or CV death, major coronary events, or major CV events. Pooled estimates of relative risk (RR) were calculated separately for hypertensive and nonhypertensive patients. The moderating effect of the percentage of hypertensive patients at baseline was tested using meta-regression. Besides the ASCOT-LLA and ALLHAT-LLT, 12 trials enrolling 69,984 patients met inclusion criteria. Overall, in these 12 trials, statin therapy decreased cardiac death by 24% (RR 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71 to 0.82). There was no evidence of difference in RR estimates for hypertensive (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.84) and nonhypertensive (RR 0.76, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.80) patients. Similarly, meta-regression showed that the efficacy of statins was not moderated by the percentage of hypertensive patients at baseline (Q estimate 1.51, p=0.22). In conclusion, statin therapy effectively decreases CV morbidity and mortality to the same extent in hypertensive and nonhypertensive patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, New York, New York, USA. fmesserli@aol.com
authors.forename: Franz H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Messerli
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Simon S K
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Kamlesh M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Thakker
authors.forename: Joseph C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cappelleri
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sichrovsky
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Dubois
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000069059:Atorvastatin; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D000077340:Fluvastatin; D006538:Heptanoic Acids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007211:Indoles / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017035:Pravastatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011379:Prognosis; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D019821:Simvastatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013812:Therapeutics
chemical_list: D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated; D006538:Heptanoic Acids; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D007211:Indoles; D011758:Pyrroles; D000077340:Fluvastatin; D000069059:Atorvastatin; D019821:Simvastatin; D017035:Pravastatin