Safety and efficacy of atorvastatin in patients with severe renal dysfunction

Objective. To investigate the efficacy and safety of a daily dose of 10 mg of atorvastatin in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 4 and 5 and a glomerular filtration rate of <30 ml/min. Material and methods. This was an open, prospective, randomized study. A total of 143 patients were included: 73 were controls and 70 were prescribed 10 mg/day of atorvastatin. As efficacy variables, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglyceride levels were determined at the start of the study and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months. Results. The follow-up period was a mean of 20±14.4 months (range 1–36 months) for those on atorvastatin versus 22±12.7 months (range 0.5–36 months) for the controls. Compared with baseline values, patients treated with atorvastatin had significantly lower concentrations of total cholesterol at Month 36 (5.8 vs 4.4 mmol/l; −23%; p<0.001), of LDL cholesterol at Month 36 (3.6 vs 2.2 mmol/l; −35%; p<0.0...