The Efficacy and Safety of Simvastatin in Treatment of Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of different doses of simvastatin in treatment of gerontal patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).Methods 124 gerontal patients with definite diagnosis of CHD were enrolled and randomly divided by random digits table into two groups treated with 40mg (n=63) and 20mg (n=61) simvastatin,once each night,respectively.The fasting serum levels of total cholesterol (TC),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C),triglyceride (TG),sero-enzyme,as well as functions of liver and kidney were determined before medication,6th,12th and 24th week after initial medication,respectively.Results The levels of TC and LDL-C were decreased significantly at 6th,12th and 24th week after initial medication (P0.05) and at the same time,TC and LDL-C levels in observation group were continuously lower than those in control group (P0.05).The rate of reaching target level of TC (82.8 % versus 64.9 %,P0.05) and LDL-C (83.0 % versus 64.9 %,P0.05) was obviously higher in observation group than in control group.There were no statistical differences in adverse effects including abnormal alanine aminotransferase and sero-enzyme between the two groups.Conclusion The simvastatin 40mg is safe and more effective in lowering total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol,causing more CHD cases to reach the target level of serum cholesterol.Gerontal patients can tolerate this dose either.