Comparison of the effects of different statins and doses on lipid levels in patients with diabetes: Results from VOYAGER

• Published in: Nutrition, metabolism, and cardiovascular diseases Vol. 22; no. 9; pp. 697 - 703
• Main Authors: Karlson, B.W, Barter, P.J, Palmer, M.K, Lundman, P, Nicholls, S.J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.09.2012
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Atorvastatin; Atorvastatin Calcium; Cardiovascular; cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - drug therapy; cardiovascular-disease; Cholesterol; Cholesterol, HDL - blood; Cholesterol, LDL; Cholesterol, LDL - blood; Clinical Medicine; clinical-practice; coronary-heart-disease; Databases, Factual; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus - drug therapy; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Female; Fluorobenzenes - therapeutic use; guidelines; Heptanoic Acids - therapeutic use; high density lipoprotein cholesterol; Humans; Hydroxymethyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Klinisk medicin; LDL; low density lipoprotein; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Meta-analysis; Middle Aged; mortality; patients; placebo-controlled trial; primary prevention; Pyrimidines - therapeutic use; Pyrroles - therapeutic use; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; risk; risk factors; risk groups; Rosuvastatin; Rosuvastatin Calcium; Simvastatin; Simvastatin - therapeutic use; Sulfonamides - therapeutic use; therapeutics; treatment panel-iii; Triglycerides - blood; Young Adult; Diabetes mellitus; Simvastatin; Atorvastatin; Cholesterol, LDL; Rosuvastatin; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors; Meta-analysis
• ISSN: 0939-4753; 1590-3729; 1590-3729
• DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2012.03.003

Abstract Background and aims Diabetes mellitus is a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and brings an increased risk of vascular events and a higher mortality rate. Treatment guidelines recommend statins in patients with diabetes, with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets of 100 mg dl−1 (∼2.5 mmol l−1 ), and 80 (∼2.0 mmol l−1 ) or 70 mg dl−1 (∼1.8 mmol l−1 ) in especially high-risk patients. The current study used the VOYAGER (an indiVidual patient data-meta-analysis Of statin therapY in At risk Groups: Effects of Rosuvastatin, atorvastatin, and simvastatin) database to characterise effects of rosuvastatin, atorvastatin and simvastatin in different doses on lipid levels in diabetes patients. Methods and results The VOYAGER database included individual patient data from 37 studies involving comparisons of rosuvastatin with either atorvastatin or simvastatin. Of the 32 258 patients included, 8859 (27.5%) had diabetes. Rosuvastatin appeared to be the most efficacious of the three statins, both for lowering LDL-C and for reaching a target level of <70 mg dl−1 for LDL-C. It was also more effective than atorvastatin at raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the diabetes population. These results are consistent with the overall VOYAGER results. Conclusions This meta-analysis of 8859 patients with diabetes mellitus shows favourable effects on lipids with the three statins studied, in line with results for the overall VOYAGER population. The importance of using an effective statin at an effective dose to reach treatment goals for such high-risk patients is evident.