UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Title: Statins in Acute Coronary Syndrome

Keywords: Statins, Acute Coronary Syndrome, Myocardial Infarction (PubMed Search)

Posted: 3/7/2013 by Ellen Lemkin, MD, PharmD
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  • A recent Cochrane review examined the use of early statin therapy in patients with ACS.
  • They evaluated 18 studies (14,303 patients), which compared early statin therapy (within 14 days) to placebo or usual care.
  • The conclusion was that initiation of early statin therapy does not reduce death, myocardial infarction of stroke up to four months, but reduces the occurrence of unstable angina by 24% at 4 months following ACS.
  • Many smaller studies previously noted benefits with early statin initiation prior to this meta-analysis.

References

Statins for acute coronary syndrome. Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews. Volume 9, 2011.