Suboptimal use of statins increases risk of hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction


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Penning-van Beest FJA et al. (2007) Adherence to evidence-based statin guidelines reduces the risk of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction by 40%: a cohort study. Eur Heart J 28:


154–159


Clinical trials indicate that robust statin therapy can reduce serum cholesterol levels effectively; however, 'real world' use of statins seems to be suboptimal for the prevention of adverse


cardiovascular outcomes. In this cohort study, Penning-van Beest et al. have investigated the effects of statin dose and nonpersistent use on the risk of hospitalization for acute


myocardial infarction (AMI).


Analysis of the Dutch PHARMO database identified 59,094 new users of statins in the period 1991–2004 who met all inclusion criteria. Statin exposure for each patient was determined for the


first 2 years of treatment, after which time they were followed for the end points of death, first hospitalization for AMI or study end. Patients who used statins persistently for 2 years (n


= 27,537) exhibited a 30% reduction in the risk of hospitalization for AMI compared with nonpersistent users (