Effects of statins on vascular endothelial function in hypercholesterolemic patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: Fluvastatin vs. rosuvastatin

Abstract: Statins appear to play a role in preventing atherosclerosis. Here, we compared the effects of two statins, fluvastatin, a lipid-soluble “vascular statin”, and rosuvastatin, a water-soluble “superstatin” with potent LDL-lowering potency, on endothelial function, as evaluated by flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery following forearm ischemia in ultrasound studies of patients with type 2 diabetes. For this, we treated 30 hypercholesterolemic diabetic patients with 30 mg fluvastatin or 2.5 mg rosuvastain for 3 months, and measured FMD, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, high-sensitive C-reactive protein, oxidized LDL, and urine isoprostane. We found that fluvastatin improved FMD (%) from 3.85±1.43 to 5.61±2.48, while rosuvastatin improved FMD from 3.63±1.76 to 4.97±2.70 (change in FMD: fluvastatin 1.76±1.59 vs. rosuvastatin 1.34±1.56). On the other hand, fluvastatin lowered LDL-cholesterol (mg/dl) from 152±62.9 to 120±43.9, while rosuvastatin lowered LDL-cholesterol from 153±29.4 to 91.9±18.8, which was a more potent change. Thus, we conclude that fluvastatin exerts a protective action on vascular endothelial cells despite being a less potent cholesterol-lowering agent, while rosuvastatin exerts similar effects and has a potent cholesterol-lowering effect, in diabetic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]