Atorvastatin and the dyslipidemia of early renal failure

Information about lipid abnormalities and the effect of lipid lowering therapy in the early stage of renal disease is limited, while preventive treatment in this stage might be much more beneficial. Lipid profiles and risk factors were assessed in 150 consecutive, non-diabetic patients. Preventive therapy consisted of cholesterol-reduced diet and atorvastatin 10 mg daily. Patients were considered at risk for cardiovascular disease if LDL-cholesterol was >2.6 mmol/l in the case of manifest cardiovascular disease (n=28) or when they had manifest cardiovascular risk factors (n=105) or if LDL was >3.5 mmol/l (n=17). A total of 128 patients (85%) had increased LDL. In men <60 years and women <40 years, total cholesterol was higher than in the general population. Linear regression analysis showed a decreased creatinine clearance to be significantly associated with the lipid profile. For a 10 ml/min decrease of creatinine clearance, a 0.085 increase of the total cholesterol to HDL ratio was observed (P=0.005). In similar analyses, proteinuria was strongly associated with cholesterol and triglycerides. An increase of 0.28 of the total cholesterol/HDL ratio was observed for each gram per 24 h proteinuria (P<0.001). On atorvastatin 10 mg daily, 30 of 60 treated patients had achieved their target LDL value. On average, LDL-cholesterol was reduced by 39% and triglycerides by 18%. No patient had to interrupt their treatment because of adverse side-effects. In conclusion, the majority of patients had an elevated LDL and other lipid abnormalities. Short-term therapy with atorvastatin and a cholesterol lowering diet appears to be safe and effective. It is probably useful to determine the lipid profile in patients with renal failure already in an early phase and to start lipid lowering treatment as soon as abnormalities are found.