8 INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH & OPINION

Underuse of statins post-MI surprises UK researchers

Of a group of patients at a UK hospital who survived an acute myocardial infarction (MI), only 13% were receiving an HMG CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) at discharge and only 26% at follow-up. This is the finding of a retrospective analysis of the case notes of 101 patients discharged from the coronary care unit (CCU) at St. George's Hospital in London between January and December 1996.

At the time of discharge, 12 patients were receiving simvastatin (mean dosage of 13 mg/day) and 1 was receiving pravastatin 10 mg/day. After a mean of 5 months' follow-up, an additional 8 patients were receiving simvastatin (at the mean dosage stated above) and 1 patient had started fluvastatin 40 mg/day. Overall, 26% of the 88 patients who attended follow-up were receiving statins, and in many of these patients the dosage was lower than that shown to be effecti ve in clinical trials.

The investigators believe that these results are 'surprising in view of the overwhelming evidence that long-term use of statins reduces fatal and non-fatal events in subjects with ischaemic heart disease ' . They recommend that all patients surviving an acute MI should receive statin therapy as part of a CCU protocol. Khong TK. Missouris CG. Murda' h M. MacGregor GA. et al . The use of HMG Co-A reductase inhibitors following acute myocardial infarction in hospital practice. Postgraduate Medical Journal 74: 600-601 . Oct 1998

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 31 0c11998 No. 186 1173-5503/9810186-00081$01.00° Adl. International Limited 1998. All right. reserved