[No reason to start treatment with statins in patients with moderate to severe heart failure]

The 'Controlled rosuvastatin multinational trial in heart failure' (CORONA) recently reported that treatment with 10 mg of rosuvastatin per day has no significant effect on primary endpoints cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction and non-fatal stroke in older patients with ischaemic systolic heart failure, despite a reduction in LDL-cholesterol of 45% to a level of 2.0 mmol/l. High sensitivity C-reactive protein was also reduced by 37%. The number of hospitalizations for cardiovascular disorders was significantly reduced. There were no more side effects in the rosuvastatin group than in the placebo group, even though the population consisted of elderly people with comorbidity and at risk for adverse drug interactions due to polypharmacy. There were no signs of any pleiotropic effects of statins in patients with heart failure. There seems to be no indication to start treatment with statins in patients with moderate to severe heart failure.