In a trial presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) scientific sessions in Orlando, Florida, researchers said they failed to find an improvement in cardiovascular death rates among patients over 60 with systolic or ischaemic HF when given the statin rosuvastatin.
In the study of 5,011 patients with moderate to severe HF, patients were assigned rosuvastatin 10 mg or placebo.
A reduction in cardiovascular events of 16 per cent was expected, said lead researcher Professor Åke Hjalmarson from the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg.
But after a mean follow-up of two years and nine months, researchers found that the rate of cardiovascular events was lowered by a non-significant 8 per cent in the treatment arm.
However, the number of hospitalisations for CV events in those given rosuvastatin was lower than in the placebo group.
Elisabeth Bjork, AstraZeneca’s global medical science director for rosuvastatin (Crestor), said: ‘The study included patients with advanced heart failure on optimal treatment who were not candidates for statin therapy.’
rachel.liddle@haymarket.com
More details on the Scientific Sessions 2007 website
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