Effects of Simvastatin on Exercise-Induced Myocardial Ischemia in Patients with Stable Exertional Angina Pectoris and Hypercholesterolemia

Objectives To investigate the effects of simvastatin on myocardial ischemia induced by exercise testing in patients with stable cxertional angina pectoris and hypercholesterolemia. Methods Ninety patients with stable exertional angina pectoris, positive exercise test and hypercholesterolemia were randomly assigned to a 12 week treatment period either diet plus simvastatin ( n =45) or diet alone ( n =45). All the patients underwent exercise testing before and after the treatment period.Results ① Simvastatin treated patients had a significant variation in total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol after treatment ( P 0.05), whereas the diet alone group had not.②After 12 weeks of treatment, only 8 patients (18%) in the simvastatin group had a positive exercise test,whereas 41 patients (91%) of the diet group still had positive tests ( P 0.05). After treatment, the patients in the simvastatin group had significantly improved in exercise tolerance, prolonged time to ST depression of 1.0 mm and reduced the severity of ST depression. Conclusions Besides the cholesterol lowering effect, simvastatin can reduce exercise induced myocardial ischemia in patients with stable exertional angina pectoris and hypercholesterolemia.