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Carotid Artery Thickening Slowed With Rosuvastatin Therapy: Presented at AHA
By Ed Susman
ORLANDO, FL -- November 8, 2007 -- Researchers said they have been able to observe that treatment with rosuvastatin slows the progression of carotid artery intima thickness when compared with placebo in patients with heart disease risk factors.
The researchers presented their findings here at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2007 Scientific Sessions.
A substudy analysis of the Measuring Effects on intima media Thickness: an Evaluation Of Rosuvastatin (METEOR) trial showed that rosuvastatin 40 mg was able to slow progression even in individuals with less than two risk factors for coronary disease, such as age, high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking.
"These results highlight the ability of rosuvastatin to slow progression of carotid atherosclerosis in subjects at relatively low risk of cardiovascular disease, and suggest that regression of disease may be possible in individuals with higher levels of baseline risk and baseline wall thickness," said lead researcher John R. Crouse, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The METEOR scientists looked at four different populations - dividing them by thinner or thicker intima walls and whether they had two or more risk factors or less than two. They were compared with similar patients with similar anatomy who were given placebo. Overall, 624 patients were treated with rosuvastatin and were compared with 252 patients who were treated with placebo.
In all four groups, patients taking rosuvastatin experienced slower progression of carotid artery intima thickness, a marker of overall cardiovascular health.
Dr. Crouse said that 228 patients on rosuvastatin with less than two risk factors for heart disease and thinner carotid intima showed a progression of thickness growth at the rate of.0007 mm/year, while the average growth in thickness among the 76 placebo patients was.0123 mm/year, a difference that was statistically significant at P <.02.
The other patients showed similar differences in progression. All the differences were statistically significant at P <.02, Dr. Crouse said.
"The METEOR trial continues to provide important information regarding the effects of rosuvastatin on atherosclerotic progression in subjects with various degrees of risk based on conventional risk factors and carotid artery wall thickness," said Dr. Crouse.
The study was funded by AstraZeneca.
[Presentation title: Rosuvastatin Treatment in Carotid Atherosclerosis: Effect of Framingham Risk Factors and Baseline Intima-Media Thickness in the METEOR Trial. Abstract 3730]
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