Effect of atorvastatin on circulating hsCRP concentrations: a sub-study of the achieve cholesterol targets fast with atorvastatin stratified titration (ACTFAST) study

BACKGROUND: Elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration is a risk factor for cardiovascular events that may add prognostic information. Statin treatment is associated with significant reductions in CRP concentrations, which appear to be unrelated to the magnitude of LDL-cholesterol reduction. We investigated the effect of atorvastatin, across its dose range, on high sensitivity (hs)CRP in subjects at high cardiovascular risk. METHODS: ACTFAST was a 12 week, prospective, multicenter, open-label trial in which high-risk subjects were assigned a starting dose of atorvastatin (10, 20, 40 or 80 mg/d) based on LDL-C and status of statin use at screening (1345 statin-free [SF] and 772 previously statin-treated [ST]). RESULTS: At baseline, ST subjects had significantly lower hsCRP levels than SF subjects (ST group 2.31, 95% CI 2.15, 2.48 mg/L vs. SF group 3.16, 95% CI 2.98, 3.34 mg/L, p<0.05). In the SF group, atorvastatin 10 to 80 mg significantly (p<0.01) reduced hsCRP levels in a dose dependent-manner. In ST group, additional hsCRP reductions were observed over the statin used at baseline, which were not dose-dependent. Atorvastatin significantly decreased hsCRP concentrations in subjects with or without diabetes or the metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Atorvastatin treatment at different doses, particularly 80 mg, significantly reduced hsCRP serum concentrations. This reduction was observed in both SF and ST groups and was independent of the presence of metabolic syndrome and/or diabetes. The beneficial effect of atorvastatin was evident at 6 weeks, supporting the practice of early introduction of higher doses of atorvastatin in high-risk patients.