Benefit of intensive statin therapy in women: results from PROVE IT-TIMI 22.

Background: Despite the known benefit of intensive statin therapy for reducing future cardiovascular events, its effectiveness in women has been questioned by some.

Methods And Results: In the Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 22 (PROVE IT-TIMI 22) trial, 911 (21.9%) women and 3251 (78.1%) men were randomized to intensive statin (atorvastatin 80 mg) versus standard therapy (pravastatin 40 mg) therapy for a median duration of 2.1 years. The primary end point was death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina; revascularization (occurring after 30 days); or stroke. Safety end points included elevations in liver function tests, creatine kinase, and myalgias/myositis. Women had a reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) of 42.8% from baseline at 30 days (to a median of 60 mg/dL) in the intensive therapy arm, with 88.8% reaching the LDL goal of <100 mg/dL and 65.0% of <70 mg/dL, compared with a 16.8% reduction in LDL (to a median of 88 mg/dL) in the standard therapy arm. Women receiving intensive statin therapy had a significant 25% relative reduction over standard dose (hazard ratio, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.57 to 0.99; P=0.04) for the primary composite end point compared with a 14% reduction for men (hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P=0.04; P-interaction, 0.38). No differences were observed between sexes for safety (all P-interaction ≥0.11).

Conclusions: This trial provides evidence that both women and men derived benefit from intensive statin therapy after acute coronary syndrome, and thus, sex should not be a factor in determining who should be treated with intensive statin therapy.