Discontinuation of Statins in Routine Care Settings
Authors: Huabing Zhang, Jorge Plutzky, Alexander Turchin
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2013)

LettersJuly 2, 2013Discontinuation of Statins in Routine Care SettingsHuabing Zhang, MD, Jorge Plutzky, MD, and Alexander Turchin, MD, MSHuabing Zhang, MDFrom Key Laboratory of Endocrinology, Ministry of Health, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China; Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Partners HealthCare System, Boston, Massachusetts., Jorge Plutzky, MDFrom Key Laboratory of Endocrinology, Ministry of Health, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China; Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Partners HealthCare System, Boston, Massachusetts., and Alexander Turchin, MD, MSFrom Key Laboratory of Endocrinology, Ministry of Health, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China; Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Partners HealthCare System, Boston, Massachusetts.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-159-1-201307020-00022 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail IN RESPONSE:We agree with Dr. Gnjidic and colleagues that the balance of risks and benefits of statin treatment must be carefully weighed in every patient and might differ among subgroups. To provide further guidance on treatment of dyslipidemia in older persons, we examined statin discontinuation in patients older than 75 years at study entry.There were 19 185 (9.3%) patients older than 75 years out of the total 107 835 patients included in our study. Among these patients, 2955 (15.4%) had documented statin-related events. Of these, 1747 (59.1%) discontinued statins at least temporarily and 910 (52.1%) were rechallenged with a statin ...References1. Shepherd J, Blauw GJ, Murphy MB, Bollen EL, Buckley BM, Cobbe SM, et al. PROSPER study group. PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk. Pravastatin in elderly individuals at risk of vascular disease (PROSPER): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2002;360:1623-30. [PMID: 12457784] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Mihaylova B, Emberson J, Blackwell L, Keech A, Simes J, Barnes EH, et al. Cholesterol Treatment Trialists' (CTT) Collaborators. The effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with statin therapy in people at low risk of vascular disease: meta-analysis of individual data from 27 randomised trials. Lancet. 2012;380:581-90. [PMID: 22607822] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From Key Laboratory of Endocrinology, Ministry of Health, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China; Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Partners HealthCare System, Boston, Massachusetts.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M12-1580. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoDiscontinuation of Statins in Routine Care Settings Huabing Zhang , Jorge Plutzky , Stephen Skentzos , Fritha Morrison , Perry Mar , Maria Shubina , and Alexander Turchin Discontinuation of Statins in Routine Care Settings Thomas W. LeBlanc , Jean S. Kutner , Christine S. Ritchie , and Amy P. Abernethy Discontinuation of Statins in Routine Care Settings Piet C. de Groen Discontinuation of Statins in Routine Care Settings Danijela Gnjidic , David G. Le Couteur , and Sarah N. Hilmer Metrics July 2, 2013Volume 159, Issue 1Page: 75-76KeywordsAdverse reactionsCholesterolClinical trialsDrug interactionsDyslipidemiaEpidemiologyLife expectancyPopulation statisticsStatinsVascular diseases ePublished: 2 July 2013 Issue Published: July 2, 2013 CopyrightCopyright © 2013 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF DownloadLoading ...