[Effect and risk factors of pitavastatin on high sensitivity C-reactive protein in patients with hypercholesterolemia: a multilevel models analysis].

Objective: To evaluate the effect of pitavastatin on high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in patients with hypercholesterolemia, and determine risk factors for the effect.
Methods: This study was a 12-week, multicenter, open-label, without parallel-group comparison, phase IV clinical trail.
Results: There were 330 subjects in the per protocol set. Contrast to the baseline, the average levels of hsCRP in all of subjects and the group without a history of receiving previous statin medication at week 12 post-treatment decreased respectively 26.4% (1.20 mg/L vs 1.68 mg/L) and 27.5% (1.21 mg/L vs 1.97 mg/L, all P < 0.05). The results of multilevel models indicated that the average levels of hsCRP reduced with the passage of treatment time, the time-varying rate of per-visit was 0.97 mg/L (95% confidence interval 0.96 - 0.98). Controlled individual background covariates, the model predicted that pulse pressure and white blood cell count on the baseline had the significant positive effects on hsCRP (P < 0.01).
Conclusions: Pitavastatin decreases hsCRP in patients with hypercholesterolemia. The main risk factors for the effect are pulse pressure and white blood cell count on the baseline.