How to use statins correctly?(Part 2: Statin therapy.)✅✅✅

Here is part 2. It is about how to use statins correctly.

What are statins and how should they be used?

There are 7 kinds of statins that are more commonly used in clinical practice. There are 7 kinds of statins that are more commonly used in clinical practice. The seven statins are atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pitavastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin.

Their characteristics are as follows:

• Atorvastatin is a potent and long-acting statin. It can be taken at any time. It is mainly metabolized via the hepatic enzyme CYP3A4. Therefore, it has more interactions with other drugs, and it is necessary to pay attention to drug interactions when taking it in combination.
• Pitavastatin is a moderate-strength, long-acting statin. It can be taken at any time. Its dose is the smallest among statins. It is mainly excreted through feces. It has fewer interactions with other drugs. It has few side effects and it has minimal effect on blood sugar.
• Pravastatin is a moderate-strength statin. Since it is not metabolized by liver enzymes, it has fewer interactions with other drugs. It has few side effects and it has less effect on blood sugar. However, it has a shorter potency and needs to be taken at bedtime.
• Rosuvastatin is a potent and long-acting statin. It can be taken at any time. It is excreted mainly in the feces and partly in the kidneys. Since only a small amount is metabolized by the liver, it has fewer interactions with other drugs. Combination medication has higher safety.
• Simvastatin is metabolized by the liver enzyme CYP3A4. Many drugs are metabolized through this pathway, so it has more interactions with other drugs. The drug-drug interactions should be paid attention to in combination therapy. It also has a shorter duration of action. Therefore, it needs to be taken at bedtime for the best lipid-lowering effect.

The initial drug should be a moderate-intensity statin, and then the dose should be adjusted according to the patient's lipid-lowering efficacy and tolerance. If the patient's cholesterol level fails to reach the target, it should be combined with other lipid-lowering drugs. The lipid-lowering intensities and doses of statins are as follows:

• Low-intensity (daily dose lowers LDL-C < 30%): Fluvastatin 20-40mg, Lovastatin 20mg, Pitavastatin 1mg, Pravastatin 10-20mg, Simvastatin 10mg.
• Moderate-intensity (daily dose lowers LDL-C 30 to 50%): Atorvastatin 10-20mg, Fluvastatin 80mg, Lovastatin 40mg, Pitavastatin 2-4mg, Pravastatin 40-80mg, Rosuvastatin 5-10mg, Simvastatin 20-40mg.
• High intensity (daily dose lowers LDL-C ≥50%): Atorvastatin 40-80mg, Rosuvastatin 20mg.

The lipid-lowering treatment options.

The usual doses of statins are: atorvastatin 10-20mg, fluvastatin 80mg, pitavastatin 2-4mg or rosuvastatin 5-10mg. If blood lipids still do not reach the target after 3 to 4 weeks of treatment, 10 mg of ezetimibe daily is combined with treatment for 4 weeks.

If the blood lipids still do not reach the target after treatment, there are generally two options. The first option is to increase the dose of the statin. The advantage of this approach is lower cost but an increased risk of side effects (despite doubling the statin dose, the LDL-C reduction is only 6%). The second option is to use a combination of PCSK-9 inhibitors (eg, evolocumab). This regimen will be more effective, but more expensive. Higher-dose statin, ezetimibe and PCSK-9 inhibitor combined use of the three drugs will further enhance the cholesterol-lowering effect. However, it is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of adverse reactions in patients when combined.

However, in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, their LDL-C is usually significantly elevated. Even if they are treated with the above-mentioned combination drugs, it is still difficult to have reasonable blood lipid control. Plasma exchange therapy every 1 to 2 weeks may be considered for this type of patient. If the patient's triglycerides are only borderline high (between 1.7 and 2.26 mmol/L), no medical treatment is required. These patients can control their blood lipids by controlling their diet, eating more vegetables, reducing calorie intake, increasing exercise, losing weight and not drinking alcohol.

Patients with moderately elevated triglycerides (between 2.26 and 5.6 mmol/L), especially those with comorbidities such as diabetes or ASCVD, may consider statin therapy. When patients have severely elevated triglycerides above 5.6 mmol/L, they are at high risk for acute pancreatitis. Therefore, they should immediately lower triglycerides to relatively safe levels with drugs such as fibrates, niacin extended-release.

Which patients need to take statins for lipid-lowering therapy?

The following groups of people need oral statins for lipid-lowering therapy:

People with LDL-C>4.9mmol/L.

The patient has been diagnosed with ASCVD. In addition, patients with stable or unstable angina, acute coronary syndrome, peripheral vascular disease, coronary or other revascularization, myocardial infarction, transient ischemic attack, ischemic stroke, or confirmed coronary and Large and medium arteries such as the carotid artery have more than 50% stenosis.

Patients with diabetes or LDL-C (>3.4mmol/L) combined with hypertension.

Low HDL-C (<1.0mmol/L), obesity, smoking, hypertension of grade two or above and other three or more non-diabetic risk factors combined with hypertension.

Diabetic patients with LDL-C>1.8mmol/L or total cholesterol (TC)>3.1mmol/L and age>40 years old.

Some patients with carotid plaque.