Publication:

A comparative study of efficacy and safety of pitavastatin versus atorvastatin in the patients of dyslipidemia in medicine department of a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the major cause of death globally. Dyslipidemia is one of the most significant risk factors for CVD. 3-hydroxy 3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins), which are used for the treatment of dyslipidemia, has a beneficial effect in both primary and secondary prevention of CVD. Hence, this study was done to compare the efficacy and safety of atorvastatin versus pitavastatin in patients of dyslipidemias.

Methods After obtaining ethical clearance from institution and written informed consent from patients, 100 patients included in the study were randomly allocated to any of the following two groups. (1) Group A: Tablet atorvastatin 10 mg given orally once a day for 12 weeks. (2) Group B: Tablet pitavastatin 2 mg given orally once a day for 12 weeks. The primary endpoint of the study was a comparative assessment of change in lipid profile (triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein [LDL], high-density lipoprotein [HDL]) from baseline and after 12 weeks. The secondary endpoint involved recording all the adverse effects during the study.

Results Analysis of the baseline and post 12 weeks lipid levels by non-parametric unpaired t-test showed a statistically significant increase in HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) in Group B as compared to Group A (p=0.028 i.e. p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between two groups in decreasing LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) (p=0.615).

Conclusions In this study, pitavastatin is found to be more efficacious than atorvastatin in increasing HDL-C levels, while as efficacious as atorvastatin in decreasing LDL-C in dyslipidemic patients. Atorvastatin is better tolerated than pitavastatin.