Alternate-day dosing of atorvastatin: effects in treating type 2 diabetic patients with dyslipidaemia

An analysis is made of the effect of alternateday dosing of atorvastatin and standard once-daily dosing, based on mean low-density lipoprotein (LDL) reduction from baseline in type 2 diabetics. Forty-four type 2 diabetics were enrolled in the study. In compliance with American Diabetes Association (ADA) and National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel (NCEP-III) guidelines, LDL-C<100 mg/dl was chosen as the treatment target. Patients were assigned to 10 mg atorvastatin as an initial dose every day. The atorvastatin dose was doubled every 6 weeks if the patients failed to reach the treatment target. After achieving LDL<100 mg/dl, the patients were assigned to the corresponding atorvastatin dose every other day for 12 weeks. Thirty-three patients correctly completed the study. LDL-C decreased 39% after the every-day period and 23% after the alternate-day atorvastatin dosing period (p<0.05). The target LDL-C concentration of <100 mg/dl was maintained in 19 patients (57.6%) in the alternate-day period. None of the 33 patients showed elevations in liver enzymes or creatine kinase during the alternate-day dosing period. Alternate-day dosing of atorvastatin could be an effective and safe alternative to daily-dosing in some type 2 diabetic patients.