Patients Who Discontinue Statin Therapy May Be More Likely To Die, New Observational Study Shows

Main Category: Statins
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology;  Cholesterol
Article Date: 02 Sep 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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The results of a new observational study presented recently at the showed that patients who stop taking their prescribed statins have a four-fold increased risk of death during the first year following an acute coronary syndrome.

The study included 2,234 patients who were prescribed statin therapy after an acute coronary syndrome. Patients were followed for one year after discharge from the hospital. For those who discontinued their therapy, median time to discontinuation was 35 days.

"Patients who have survived one acute coronary event are at an increased risk for additional cardiovascular events such as a heart attack or stroke" said Professor Furio Colivicchi, study author and Director, Clinical Quality Management Unit at the Cardiovascular Department, San Filippo Neri Hospital, Rome, Italy. "The vast majority of this high-risk patient population is expected to benefit significantly from long-term statin therapy. Yet many of these patients quickly stop taking their prescribed statins. This study shows how dangerous that decision can be, since it increases their chance of death."

"Discontinuation of medication is common in clinical practice," Dr. Colivicchi continued. "This study tells us that patient care needs to be improved as patients are transitioned from a hospital setting to outpatient care, where medication persistence is often overlooked. Physicians need to keep their patients informed of critical information such as the potentially deadly consequences of foregoing their medication."

About Acute Coronary Syndrome

Acute coronary syndrome is an umbrella term used to cover any group of clinical symptoms associated with acute myocardial ischemia, which is chest pain due to insufficient blood supply to the heart muscle that results from coronary artery disease.

2008 European Society of Cardiology Congress