Statins as adjunctive therapy in the management of hypertension

The effective optimization of the modifiable risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis is the cornerstone preventive cardiology. Risk factor clustering has been demonstrated to occur in a higher prevalence than would be expected by chance alone. The common cardiovascular risk factors frequently share metabolic pathways. Inflammation and oxidative stress are demonstrable in the major cardiovascular risk factors. Hypertension and dyslipidemia frequently co-exist in an individual. The advent of statin therapy has allowed optimization of the lipid profile and achievement of therapeutic goals advocated by the Adult Treatment Panel of the National Cholesterol Education Program. Statin therapy has been demonstrated to exhibit a wide variety of nonlipid or pleiotropic effects. Observational studies have demonstrated that statin therapy may cause a small but statistically significant alteration of blood pressure. Prospective clinical trials have demonstrated that statin therapy reduces this cardiovascular risk in both hypertensive and normotensive individuals. The potential role of statin therapy in blood pressure reduction is compatible with several pleiotropic mechanisms of statin therapy. However, a significant body of data from prospective, well-designed, controlled clinical trials that have analyzed the effect of statin therapy on blood pressure as the primary end point is lacking. This review examines the observational relationship between hypertension and dyslipidemia, the potential mechanisms by which statin therapy may lower blood pressure, and selected clinical trial data.