Long-term effects of early statin therapy for patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with stent implantation.
OBJECTIVE
Statins are widely administered to patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but knowledge of the effects of early statin therapy on the long-term mortality of AMI patients after stent implantation is still limited, especially for beyond low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering effects.


METHODS
Our 378 consecutive AMI patients who were discharged alive from the hospital with successful stent implantation between 1997 and 2005 were included. We retrospectively evaluated the effects of statin therapy on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including all-cause death, reinfarction, coronary artery bypass grafting, heart failure requiring rehospitalization, and target lesion revascularization.


RESULTS
Statins were given to 271 patients according to the physician to achieve a LDL-C level of less than 100mg/dL. The achieved LDL-C levels in the statin group were 100.7, 95.1, 96.7, and 102.8mg/dL at discharge, 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years, respectively, whereas those in the non-statin group were 103.2, 107.3, 102.8, and 103.0mg/dL. These levels were not significantly different between the groups during 3 years. Based on Kaplan-Meier estimates, statin therapy was associated with a reduction of long-term mortality (log-rank test P=0.007). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that statin therapy (P=0.015, hazard ratio: 0.10; 95% confidence interval: 0.01-0.64) was a significant predictor of favorable prognosis. Multivariate analysis revealed that statin treatment had a beneficial effect against MACE over 3 years (P=0.008).


CONCLUSIONS
Early statin therapy was beneficial for long-term mortality of AMI patients treated with stenting.
Department of Cardiology, Kishiwada City Hospital, Kishiwada-shi, Osaka 596-8501, Japan. shinkadota@hotmail.co.jp
Shin
S
Kadota
Mitsuo
M
Matsuda
Masayasu
M
Izuhara
Osamu
O
Baba
Soji
S
Moriwaki
Keisuke
K
Shioji
Yuzo
Y
Takeuchi
Takashi
T
Uegaito
D000368:Aged; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D013997:Time Factors
D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors