Efficacy of rosuvastatin 10 mg in patients with the metabolic syndrome

The constellation of risk factors known as the metabolic syndrome increases the risk of coronary artery disease at any low-density lipoprotein, (LDL) cholesterol level. We performed an exploratory analysis of data from 5 trials to study the effects of rosuvastatin 10 mg on lipid levels and ratios in hypercholesterolemic patients (LDL cholesterol greater than or equal to160 mg/dL and <250 mg/dL) who met a modified National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) definition of the metabolic syndrome. Of 580 patients completing 12 weeks of treatment with rosuvastatin 10 mg, 194 (33%) met the definition of the metabolic syndrome by exhibiting >= 3 of the following: body mass index >30; triglycerides greater than or equal to150 mg/dL, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol <40 mg/dL in men and <50 mg/dL in women; blood pressure greater than or equal to130/greater than or equal to85 mm Hg or receiving current medication for hypertension; and fasting blood glucose greater than or equal to110 mg/dL. Patients with the metabolic syndrome had higher triglyceride, non-HDL. cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and lipid ratios, and lower HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I levels, at baseline compared with patients without the metabolic syndrome. In patients with the metabolic syndrome, rosuvastatin 10 mg improved LDL cholesterol (-47%), non-HDL cholesterol (-43%), non-HDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio (-47%), apolipoprotein B (-37%), apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I ratio (-40%), triglycerides (-23%), apolipoprotein A-I (+7%), and HDL cholesterol (+10%)-in a manner similar to that in hypercholesterolemic patients who did not meet these criteria. Among patients who met the metabolic syndrome criteria and who had triglycerides greater than or equal to200 mg/dL, 64% met their ATP III non-HDL goals. (C) 2003 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.