Reducing Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Women Beyond Statin Therapy: New Insights 2020

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Preventive Cardiology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Managing residual cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in statin-treated patients is crucial.
• Women face unique CVD risk factors and have historically been underrepresented in clinical trials.
• Triglyceride-lowering treatments show mixed results for CVD risk reduction, unlike LDL-cholesterol therapies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review CVD in women and relevant prevention trials.
• To discuss the applicability of Reduction of Cardiovascular Events with Icosapent Ethyl-Intervention Trial (REDUCE-IT) results for statin-treated women.
• To highlight the potential of icosapent ethyl in managing CVD risk in women.

Main Methods:

• Review of prior cardiovascular disease prevention trials, focusing on women's representation.
• Analysis of recent clinical trial data, specifically the REDUCE-IT study.
• Examination of triglyceride-lowering treatments, including omega-3 fatty acids.

Main Results:

• The REDUCE-IT trial demonstrated significant CVD event reduction with icosapent ethyl plus statins (17.2% vs. 22.0%).
• Icosapent ethyl, an EPA-only omega-3 fatty acid, showed a hazard ratio of 0.75 (95% CI 0.68-0.83; p < 0.001).
• CVD risk reduction with icosapent ethyl was comparable between women and men (p for interaction = 0.33).

Conclusions:

• Icosapent ethyl is a novel therapy for CVD prevention in high-risk patients.
• Women appear to benefit similarly to men from icosapent ethyl treatment.
• Findings support the use of icosapent ethyl for managing residual CVD risk in statin-treated women.