Statin therapy can have a positive effect on atherosclerosis even in people with only early signs of carotid artery disease and a low risk for coronary heart disease, according to results from a late-breaking trial presented at the scientific session of the American College of Cardiology.

The study, using rosuvastatin 40mg daily, resulted in a significantly slower rate of progression of atherosclerosis compared with placebo treatment. When assessed versus baseline, no significant progression was observed in the 40 mg rosuvastatin arm over the two-year duration of the study while significant progression was observed in patients in the placebo arm.

At baseline, participants in the statin arm had moderately increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (mean 154 mg/dL) and no established atherosclerosis. At final evaluation, they had a calculated 0.0014 mm/year decrease in mean maximum carotid intima-media thickness compared with a progression of 0.0131 mm/year for patients taking placebo.

"It's exciting to see that by using rosuvastatin we can potentially slow or even stop the disease progression in people with relatively modest atherosclerosis," said lead investigator John R. Crouse, III, MD, Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences and Associate Director of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine General Clinical Research Centre. "METEOR provides evidence that the effect of rosuvastatin on dyslipidemia translates into a beneficial effect on the progression of atherosclerosis."

In METEOR, statin therapy was associated with a 48.8 percent reduction in low-density cholesterol and an 8.0 percent increase in high-density cholesterol, both significant differences. These results are consistent with the above finding and provide additional confirmation that improvement of cholesterol profile translates into beneficial effects on atherosclerosis.

METEOR (Measuring Effects on intima media Thickness: an Evaluation Of Rosuvastatin) was a 24-month international study to evaluate the effect of rosuvastatin 40 mg in 984 asymptomatic, hypercholesterolemic patients with a low risk of coronary heart disease (Framingham ten year risk <10 percent) and evidence of sub-clinical atherosclerotic disease determined by maximum carotid intima-media thickness between 1.2 and 3.5 mm.

METEOR used B-mode ultrasound imaging to assess and measure change in mean maximum thickness at 12 sites in the carotid artery. The study evaluated low risk subjects not indicated for statin therapy to permit inclusion of a comparative placebo arm.