Results from a rosuvastatin historical cohort study in more than 45,000 Dutch statin users, a PHARMO study

Clinical benefits of statin therapy are accepted, but their safety profiles have been under scrutiny, particularly for the recently introduced statin, rosuvastatin, relating to serious adverse events involving muscle, kidney and liver. Therefore, a historical cohort study was performed to evaluate the association between rosuvastatin versus other statin use and the incidence of rhabdomyolysis, myopathy, acute renal failure and hepatic impairment.

Incident users of rosuvastatin or other statins in 2003-2004 and a cohort of patients not prescribed statins were included from the PHARMO database of >2 million Dutch residents. Cases of hospitalisations for myopathy, rhabdomyolysis, acute renal failure or hepatic impairment were identified for these cohorts. Potential cases were validated through a multi-step process using data obtained from hospital records. Additionally, cases of all cause deaths were identified from certification alone.

In 2003 and 2004, 10,147 incident rosuvastatin users, 37,396 incident other statin users and 99,935 patients without statin prescriptions were included. There were 26 validated outcome events in the three cohorts including one case each of myopathy (other statin group) and rhabdomyolysis (non-treated group). There were no significant differences in the incidence of outcome events between rosuvastatin and other statin users.

This study indicated that the number of outcome events is less than 1 per 3000 person years. This study in more than 45,000 Dutch statin users suggests that rosuvastatin does not lead to an increased incidence of rhabdomyolysis, myopathy, acute renal failure or hepatic impairment compared to other statins.