Usefulness of hydrophilic vs lipophilic statins after acute myocardial infarction: subanalysis of MUSASHI-AMI.

BACKGROUND: Statins are widely used to reduce blood levels of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C). Each statin has unique pharmacokinetic properties; lipophilicity is one such property and relates to tissue selectivity. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Multicenter Study for Aggressive Lipid-lowering Strategy by HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction (MUSASHI-AMI) trial evaluated the effect of discretional statin treatment initiated within 96 h after onset of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Japanese patients. To clarify whether statin lipophilicity affects prognosis, a post hoc analysis of the MUSASHI-AMI database was performed. Patients who were assigned to receive statin were separated into 2 groups according to the lipophilicity of the statins they were administered: lipophilic statins (atorvastatin, fluvastatin, pitavastatin and simvastatin; LS group; n=131) or hydrophilic statins (pravastatin; HS group; n=110). There was no difference in baseline LDL-C concentrations between the 2 groups. Although LDL-C was decreased more potently in the LS than HS groups (-34% vs -19%; p=0.0069), acute coronary syndrome events tended to occur less frequently (3.6% vs 9.9%; p=0.0530) and the incidence of new Q-wave appearance in electrocardiogram was significantly lower (75% vs 89%; p=0.0056) in the HS than LS groups. CONCLUSIONS: In normocholesterolemic Japanese patients after AMI, hydrophilic pravastatin could be superior to lipophilic statins at preventing new Q-wave appearance and reducing cardiovascular events.