Preventive effects of eicosapentaenoic acid on coronary artery disease in patients with peripheral artery disease.
BACKGROUND
The JELIS trial examined the preventive effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on coronary artery disease (CAD) in hypercholesterolemia. Previous investigators have reported that patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have a poor prognosis due to the potential risk for CAD. We conducted a subanalysis to examine whether the incidence of CAD was high in patients with PAD and whether EPA prevented the occurrence of CAD.


RESULTS
Of 18,645 the Japan EPA lipid intervention study (JELIS) patients, 223 had PAD (control group; complicated (n=77), newly diagnosed (n=29), EPA group; complicated (n=96), newly diagnosed (n=21)). We analyzed the incidence of major coronary events (MCE) in the 2 groups. Cox proportional hazard ratio adjusted for baseline risk factor levels was used to test differences between the 2 groups. The incidence of MCE in the control group was significantly higher in patients complicated with PAD and in those newly diagnosed with PAD than in patients without PAD (complicated: hazard ratio 1.97, P=0.039; newly diagnosed: hazard ratio 2.88, P=0.030). As for patients with PAD, the EPA group had a significantly lower MCE hazard ratio than the control group (hazard ratio 0.44, 95% confidence interval 0.19-0.97, P=0.041).


CONCLUSIONS
Subanalysis of the JELIS trial demonstrated that in patients with PAD the incidence of CAD was higher than in controls, and that EPA markedly reduced the occurrence of CAD in those patients.
Ishikawa
Yuichi
Y
Kakogawa Municipal Hospital, Kakogawa, Japan. y_ishikawa@city.kakogawa.hyogo.jp
Yokoyama
Mitsuhiro
M
Saito
Yasushi
Y
Matsuzaki
Masunori
M
Origasa
Hideki
H
Oikawa
Shinichi
S
Sasaki
Jun
J
Hishida
Hitoshi
H
Itakura
Hiroshige
H
Kita
Toru
T
Kitabatake
Akira
A
Nakaya
Noriaki
N
Sakata
Toshiie
T
Shimada
Kazuyuki
K
Shirato
Kunio
K
Matsuzawa
Yuji
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D020011:Protective Agents; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D020011:Protective Agents; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid