Relation of C-reactive protein and one-year survival after acute myocardial infarction with versus without statin therapy

We evaluated the interaction between inflammation and survival benefit from statin therapy in patients who had acute myocardial infarction. Although 1-year mortality did not differ between patients who used statin therapy and those who did not, among patients who had C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations in the lower 2 tertiles (<2.9 mg/L), 1-year mortality was higher in patients who used statin therapy than in those who did not within the highest CRP-defined tertile (> or =2.9 mg/L). Statin therapy significantly decreased the hazard ratio for 1-year mortality in patients who had high CRP levels to approximately the hazard present for patients who had low CRP levels and did not receive statin therapy.