Superior benefit of aggressive lipid-lowering therapy for high- risk patients using statins: the SUBARU study--more hypercholesterolemic patients achieve Japan Atherosclerosis Society LDL-C goals with rosuvastatin therapy than with atorvastatin therapy.

AIM: There have been few comparisons between rosuvastatin and other statins in Japanese patients. This open-label, randomized, parallel-group comparative study was performed to compare the efficacy and safety of rosuvastatin (5 mg) and atorvastatin (10 mg) once daily in Japanese patients with hypercholesterolemia.

METHODS

Patients with hypercholesterolemia who had received atorvastatin (10 mg/day) for at least 4 weeks and were in category B3, B4, or C according to the Japan Atherosclerosis Society Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Diseases 2002 (JAS2002GL) were randomly assigned to rosuvastatin at 5 mg/day (switched treatment) or atorvastatin at 10 mg/day (continued treatment). The primary endpoint was the achievement of JAS2002GL LDL-C goals at 8 weeks.

RESULTS

LDL-C goals were reached by 80.3% of the rosuvastatin group and 67.3% of the atorvastatin group at 8 weeks (p<0.01). The percent change of the LDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio at 8 weeks was significantly greater in the rosuvastatin group than in the atorvastatin group (both p<0.01). Furthermore, rosuvastatin improved fasting plasma glucose (p<0.01). Both drugs were well tolerated.

CONCLUSION

Rosuvastatin (5 mg/day) is a useful treatment option for high-risk patients with hypercholesterolemia.