Clinical efficacy of pravastatin for hyperlipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The efficacy of pravastatin (CAS 81131-70-6) on serum lipid levels in 91 type 2 diabetic patients with mean glycosylated hemoglobin of 8.5% was investigated up to 12 weeks. Oral administration of 10 to 20 mg/d of pravastatin significantly decreased total cholesterol by 18.4 +/- 1.5% after 4 weeks. When analyzed separately in type IIa and IIb hyperlipidemia, the reduction of total cholesterol by pravastatin was more prominent in the former. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were also significantly decreased 22.2 +/- 2.7% after 4 weeks. The effect of pravastatin in reducing triglyceride was more prominent in patients with higher triglyceride compared to those with lower triglyceride before the administration of the drug. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol showed a slight but significant increase by 4.2 +/- 1.9% after 4 weeks. Among the apolipoproteins examined, apolipoprotein B was significantly decreased after 4 weeks. Atherogenic index and apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I ratio were also significantly decreased after 4 weeks. The efficacy of pravastatin was also observed after 12 weeks to the same extent as after 4 weeks. No major side effects or abnormalities of laboratory parameters have been observed. These data lead to the conclusion that pravastatin is useful for the treatment of hyperlipidemia in type 2 diabetic patients with poor glycemic control without major adverse effects.