TUESDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Statin therapy lowered mortality rates in eligible heart failure patients and was linked to fewer hospitalizations and better clinical outcomes in those with and without cardiac disease, researchers report in the Nov. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Alan S. Go, M.D., of Kaiser Permanente of Northern California in Oakland, Calif., and colleagues retrospectively identified 24,598 patients with chronic heart failure between 1996 and 2004, who were eligible for lipid-lowering treatment and who had not been on statins.
Compared to those who did not start therapy, patients who began using statins were more likely to be male, younger and to have cardiovascular disease and risk factors, but few other comorbidities. After adjusting for potential confounders and concomitant cardiac medications, incident statin use remained linked to lower mortality (hazard ratio 0.76) and cardiac specific hospitalizations (hazard ratio 0.79) in patients eligible for statins. Incident statin treatment was also linked to fewer adverse outcomes in those with and without known heart disease.
"Among adults diagnosed with heart failure who had no prior statin use, incident statin use was independently associated with lower risks of death and hospitalization among patients with and without coronary heart disease," the authors conclude.
Some authors received research support funding from Amgen, Wyeth and Novartis.
Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
