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Statin use in heart failure: a cause for concern?

Amresh Raina1, Thomas Pickering, Daichi Shimbo

  • 1Behavioral Cardiovascular Health and Hypertension Program, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.

American Heart Journal
|July 11, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Statins show promise for improving cardiovascular outcomes in heart failure (HF) patients, despite limited trial data. Current evidence suggests benefits, and ongoing trials will further define their role in HF management.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Statins are established for cardiovascular event prevention and acute coronary syndrome treatment.
  • Efficacy and safety of statins in heart failure (HF) patients remain largely uncharacterized.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review existing evidence on the efficacy and safety of statin therapy in patients diagnosed with heart failure.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic review of English-language, peer-reviewed articles from 1985-2005 via MEDLINE database search.
  • Focused on statin efficacy and safety data from HF patients in major trials, impact analyses, and randomized clinical trials.

Main Results:

  • Major statin trials largely excluded HF patients; limited use in HF randomized trials.
  • Subgroup analyses, retrospective studies, and cohort data suggest statins improve cardiovascular prognosis in HF.
  • Small randomized trials indicate statins may improve HF symptoms, ejection fraction, and inflammatory markers.

Conclusions:

  • Growing evidence supports beneficial effects of statins in heart failure (HF).
  • Little evidence exists to warrant withdrawing or withholding statins from HF patients.
  • Ongoing randomized controlled trials are expected to clarify the definitive role of statins in HF.
Abstract

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