Continuing statin after adverse Rx tied to lower cardiac risk

(HealthDay)—For patients with an adverse reaction to a statin, continued statin prescriptions are associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular events and death, according to a study published online July 25 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Huabing Zhang, M.D., from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the correlation between continuation of statin therapy after an adverse reaction and clinical outcomes. Participants had a presumed adverse reaction to a statin between 2000 and 2011.

The researchers found that 81 percent of the adverse reactions to statins were identified from electronic provider notes. Overall, 70.7 percent of the 28,266 study patients continued receiving statin prescriptions after the adverse reaction. The cumulative incidence of the composite primary outcome (time to a cardiovascular event [myocardial infarction or stroke] or death) was 12.2 and 13.9 percent for patients with continued statin prescriptions versus those without (difference, 1.7 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.8 to 2.7 percent; P < 0.001) at four years after the presumed adverse event. Overall, 26.5 percent of 7,604 patients for whom a different statin was prescribed after the adverse reaction had a documented adverse reaction to the second statin; 84.2 percent of those patients continued receiving statin prescriptions.

"Continued statin prescriptions after an adverse reaction were associated with a lower incidence of death and cardiovascular events," the authors write.

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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