To assess the drugs effectiveness, the team used ultrasound to measure intima media thickness (IMT) in the carotid artery in the neck. IMT is the combined thickness of the intima and media, two layers of the artery wall.
Carotid IMT is widely accepted as a standardized and validated surrogate marker for atherosclerotic vascular disease, said Maud N. Vissers, Ph.D., co-author of the study and a senior scientist in vascular medicine at the Academic Medical Centre. In 2004, the team reported that two years of therapy had reduced the progression of atherosclerosis in the pravastatin group when compared to the placebo group.
This study reflects the findings from 186 of the original participants 96 who had started on pravastatin and 90 from the placebo group. These patients received pravastatin for between 2.1 and 7.4 years, and for an average of 4.5 years. The children were an average 13.7 years old at enrollment; 49 percent were male. After all patients were on the statin drug, 83 percent continued with pravastatin and 17 percent switched to another statin.
Analyses of 4.5-year data showed that the age of statin initiation was a strong, independent predictor for the increased thickening between the intima and media. This held true even after the researchers considered the patients gender, intima-media thickness when treatment began, and the length of statin therapy.
The researchers projected that the artery wall thickening would increase 0.003 millimeters for each year that statin therapy was delayed.
The results show that earlier initiation of statin treatment results in a smaller carotid IMT at a later age, said John J. P. Kastelein, M.D., Ph.D., co-author of the study and professor and chair of vascular medicine at the Academic Medical Centre. However, each child will differ with res
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Contact: Cathy Lewis
cathy.lewis@heart.org
214-706-1324
American Heart Association
3-Aug-2007