Perioperative statin therapy is associated with a significant and dose-dependent reduction of adverse cardiovascular outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to determine whether perioperative statin therapy was associated with a dose-dependent decrease in adverse cardiovascular events after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

DESIGN

A prospective observational study.

SETTING

A cardiovascular anesthesia unit in a university hospital.

PARTICIPANTS

Four hundred eighteen consecutive patients undergoing CABG surgery between October 2004 and October 2005.

INTERVENTIONS

Patients were divided in 2 groups depending on whether their preoperative treatment included statins or not. In patients receiving statins, high- and low-dose regimens were respectively defined as a regimen recognized to induce a theoretic reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level equal to 45% (n = 87) or <45% (n = 258). In treated patients, statin therapy was maintained until the day of surgery and was restarted soon thereafter.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The measured endpoint was adverse in-hospital cardiovascular outcomes including heart failure and/or malignant arrhythmia and/or cardiac death. Stepwise logistic regression and a multivariate analysis of propensity-matched cohort were used for analysis of the findings. After adjustment for propensity score, statin therapy was found to produce a significant reduction in cardiovascular outcomes (odds ratio = 0.56; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.32-0.96, p < 0.05). By using multivariate analysis, the odds ratio for cardiovascular outcomes in patients receiving high-dose statins compared with those treated by low-dose statins was 0.62 (95% CI, 0.41-0.93; p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Statin therapy is associated with a significant and dose-dependent reduction in adverse cardiovascular events after CABG surgery. However, further randomized trials still require confirming a causal association between statins and better postoperative outcomes and evaluating the tolerance of such perioperative therapy.