The safety of Statin therapy has been proven

Revision of the Cerebrovascular Disease Control Act in the first half of this year

Major domestic and foreign treatment guidelines, Statin therapy was recommended for high-risk cardiovascular diseases

Atorvastatin, validated in various clinical trials, constant maintenance of drug therapy is key

As the Cerebral Cardiovascular Disease Control Act was revised in April, dyslipidemia was included in the range of cerebrovascular diseases under the current law, along with hypertension and diabetes.

 

It is explained that the severity and risk of dyslipidemia have been recognized at the national level and the willingness to support is indicated.

 

Accordingly, the importance of dyslipidemia management is expected to become more prominent in clinical settings.

 

In fact, in a large-scale prospective cohort study in Korea in 2014, dyslipidemia was identified as one of the four risk factors that have the greatest impact on the occurrence of cerebrovascular disease in Koreans, along with hypertension, diabetes, and smoking.

 

In addition, dyslipidemia is a chronic disease that is increasing the most in Korea.

 

According to the current status and issues of chronic diseases of the KCDC, the prevalence of dyslipidemia in adults in Korea as of 2017 was 21.5%, more than doubled from 10.7% in 2007.

 

Hypertension increased by 2.4% to 24.5% in 2007 and 26.9% in 2017, while diabetes increased by 0.9% to 9.5% in 2007 and 10.4% in 2017.

 

Dyslipidemia is a major underlying condition of cardiovascular disease, which is a major cause of death in Korea, and active lipid management from an early stage is important for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease.

 

If long-term treatment is left without lipid management, cholesterol accumulates on the walls of blood vessels, resulting in atherosclerosis, and such atherosclerosis narrows the blood vessels, leading to cerebral cardiovascular diseases such as angina, myocardial infarction, and stroke, which can lead to death.

 

It is noteworthy that Statin therapy is recommended in major domestic and international medical guidelines as the primary treatment for cardiovascular disease prevention for patients with dyslipidemia and high risk of cardiovascular disease.

 

Cholesterol Guidelines of the U.S.

 

2018 AHA/ACC Multisociety and treatment guidelines of the Korean Society of Lipids and Arteriosclerosis recommend Statin therapy as the first line treatment for cardiovascular disease prevention for high-risk groups such as dyslipidemia patients.

 

As Statins have long-term therapeutic effects and safety profiles confirmed through clinical and actual patient treatment, high-risk patients need to maintain Statin therapy continuously and stably in order to effectively prevent cardiovascular disease.

 

Statins have been introduced and used in various ingredients, and according to Cholesterol Guidelines of 2018 U.S.

 

AHA/ACC Multisociety, 7 Statin treatments are included.

 

The ACC/AHA cholesterol treatment guideline suggests statin suitable for high-intensity/medium-intensity/low-intensity therapy according to the LDL-C control target.

 

Atorvastatin 10-20mg, Pitavastatin 1-4mg, Simvastatin 20-40mg, etc.

 

are recommended for medium-intensity therapy that should lower LDL-cholesterol to 30-49% of baseline.

 

In addition, only Atorvastatin (40mg, 80mg) such as Lipitor or Rosuvastatin (20mg, 40mg) are recommended for high-intensity therapy that requires lowering LDL-cholesterol by 50% or more.

 

Among many Statins, Atorvastatin is by far a drug that has proven excellent cardiovascular disease management, prevention, and safety over a long period of time through large-scale clinical studies around the world.

 

Atorvastatin also has a number of clinical data for domestic patients.

 

According to the related clinical trial, AT-GOAL, Atorvastatin 10mg, 20mg, and 40mg were administered according to LDL-cholesterol level and cardiovascular risk, and the study was conducted by weighing the dose according to the LDL-cholesterol level at 4 weeks of administration.

 

The proportion of patients who reached the LDL-cholesterol target level at 4 and 8 weeks of administration were 81.9% (95% CI, 77.9-85.5) and 86% (95% CI, 82.3-89.2), respectively.

 

According to the results of a meta-analysis of 11 clinical studies conducted in Korea, Japan, and China related to medium-intensity therapy, patients taking Atorvastatin 10-20mg showed more effective effect of reducing LDL-C compared to patients taking Pitavastatin 1-4mg.

 

(Mean difference of 2.51, 95% confidence interval 1.17–3.86, P=0.0003), and no significant difference was found in relation to the elevation of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) (mean difference -0.14, 95% confidence interval-1.44–1.15).

 

, P=0.83) In the case of high-intensity therapy, Atorvastatin was found to significantly reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events by 22% when administered at a high dose (80 mg/day) and compared to a low dose (10 mg/day) through a clinical trial for patients with safe coronary heart disease.

 

It has been shown to have secondary prevention indications for coronary heart disease, which lowers the risk of myocardial infarction (non-fatal), stroke (fatal and non-fatal), angina pectoris and congestive heart failure, and revascularization.

 

Professor Park Deok-Woo of the Department of Cardiology of Asan Medical Center said, "As with Atorvastatin, the efficacy and safety of the drug have been proven and widely used in various clinical studies targeting various patient groups ranging from low-risk groups to high-risk groups over the past 20 years.

 

He advised that if a patient has received Statins therapy, he or she should actively manage lipids and prevent primary and secondary cardiovascular diseases.”