This finding is from a subanalysis designed and completed following the closure of the five-year Treating to New Targets (TNT) study in patients with existing coronary heart disease. The results were published in the August issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
“As the rates of diabetes in the U.S. have risen, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of cases of chronic kidney disease,” said Dr. James Shepherd, clinical academic consultant, department of pathological biochemistry, University of Glasgow Medical School and a member of the TNT steering committee. “This trend is alarming, since patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease are much more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than patients with diabetes alone, increasing the urgency to treat. The study's findings support existing guidelines that recommend aggressively lowering LDL cholesterol using statin therapy, such as Lipitor 80 mg, to reduce the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke in these high-risk patients."
In patients with heart disease and type 2 diabetes but without chronic kidney disease, Lipitor 80 mg reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events by 10 percent compared to Lipitor 10 mg, which did not reach significance.
Both doses of Lipitor (80 mg and 10 mg) were generally well tolerated.
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