Impact of high-dose atorvastatin in coronary heart disease patients age 65 to 78 years.

Background: High-dose statin therapy may be underutilized in aged patients due to doubts about efficacy and safety.

Hypothesis: To investigate outcomes and safety in patients aged 65-78 years compared with patients aged < 65 years in the ALLIANCE study.

Methods: A total of 2,442 stable coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with dyslipidemia were randomized to either aggressive treatment (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol titration goal of < 80 mg/dL or maximum 80 mg/d of atorvastatin) or usual care (continuation of baseline lipid-lowering therapy, with changes and laboratory analyses directed by treating physicians).

Results: A total of 1,001 patients aged 65-78 years were followed for a median period of 53.9 mo. Older, aggressively treated atorvastatin patients experienced a 27% relative risk reduction for the primary composite endpoint of adverse cardiovascular outcomes (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.73; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.57-0.94; p = 0.016). In addition, significant risk reductions were observed for nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI; HR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.23-0.79; p = 0.006), cardiac revascularization (HR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.48-0.93; p = 0.017), and the combined endpoint of cardiac death and nonfatal MI (HR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.32-0.72; p = 0.001). The rate of significant liver transaminase elevations in atorvastatin patients was low and not age related. There were no cases of rhabdomyolysis. The rate of study discontinuations due to serious adverse events was higher in patients aged 65-78 years than in those younger than 65 years, but was similar between the treatment groups.

Conclusions: Our data support the efficacy and safety of aggressive lipid management with atorvastatin in older CHD patients.