Authors	J Shepherd, DB Hunninghake, P Barter, JM McKenney, HG Hutchinson
Title	Guidelines for lowering lipids to reduce coronary artery disease risk: A comparison of rosuvastatin with atorvastatin, pravastatin, and simvastatin for achieving lipid-lowering goals
Full source	American Journal of Cardiology, 2003, Vol 91, Iss 5A, Suppl. S, pp 11C-17C
Address	Shepherd J, Univ Glasgow, Royal Infirm, Dept Pathol Biochem, Castle St 84 C4, Glasgow G4 0SF, Lanark, SCOTLAND
Abstract	Both the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III and the Second Joint Task Force of European Societies guidelines have established low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol goals for lipid-lowering treatment to reduce the risk of coronary artery disease. Data from 3 trials that compared rosuvastatin 10 mg (n = 389) with atorvastatin 10 mg (n = 393) and 2 trials that compared rosuvastatin 10 mg (n = 226) with pravastatin 20 mg (n = 252) and simvastatin 20 mg (n = 249) were pooled separately to compare the achievement of LDL cholesterol goals over 12 weeks of treatment in hypercholesterolemic patients. Noncomparative pooling of rosuvastatin 10 mg results from all 5 trials (n = 615) showed that 80% achieved NCEP ATP III goals and 81% achieved the European goal of <3.0 mmol/L. Compared with atorvastatin 10 mg, significantly more patients treated with rosuvastatin 10 mg achieved their ATP III (76% vs 53%) and European (82% vs 51%) goals (p <0.001). Also, in comparisons with simvastatin 20 mg and pravastatin 20 mg, 86% of patients treated with rosuvastatin 10 mg achieved ATP III goals, compared with 64% of simvastatin-treated patients and 49% of pravastatin-treated patients (p <0.001). The proportions of patients who achieved the European goal were 80%, 48%, and 16% for rosuvastatin 10 mg, simvastatin 20 mg, and provastatin 20 mg, respectively, in this comparison (all p < 0.001). A total of 71% of patients treated with rosuvastatin 10 mg who had triglyceride levels greater than or equal to200 mg/dL met both their LDL cholesterol and their non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol goals. (C) 2003 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.