Statin treatment is associated with a higher death rate and a higher risk of heart attack in angioplasty patients

This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine 1994 Nov 17;331(20):1331-7

 

Study title and authors:

Lack of effect of lovastatin on restenosis after coronary angioplasty. Lovastatin Restenosis Trial Study Group.

Weintraub WS, Boccuzzi SJ, Klein JL, Kosinski AS, King SB 3rd, Ivanhoe R, Cedarholm JC, Stillabower ME, Talley JD, DeMaio SJ

Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA.

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7935702

This six month, randomized, double-blind trial evaluated the effects of lovastatin in 404 patients who had undergone angioplasty. (Angioplasty is the technique of mechanically widening narrowed or obstructed arteries). The patients received either lovastatin (40 mg orally twice daily) or placebo.

The study found:
(a) Patients receiving lovastatin had a 200% increased risk of death compared to the patients receiving placebo.
(b) Patients receiving lovastatin had a 177% increased risk of a heart attack compared to the patients receiving placebo.

The data from the study reveals that statin treatment is associated with a higher death rate and a higher risk of heart attack in angioplasty patients.