A statin in the treatment of heart failure? Controlled rosuvastatin multinational study in heart failure (CORONA): Study design and baseline characteristics

Background: Previous prospective outcome studies of statins have not provided any guidance on benefit-risk in patients with heart failure. Aim: The primary objective is to determine whether rosuvastatin (10 mg) reduces the combined endpoint of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction or non-fatal stroke (time to first event). The first secondary endpoint is all-cause mortality. Methods: CORONA is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Briefly, men and women, aged 60 years with chronic symptomatic systolic heart failure of ischemic aetiology and ejection fraction 0.40 (NYHA class III and IV) or 0.35 (NYHA class II) were eligible if they were not using or in need of cholesterol lowering drugs. Results: Mean age was 73 years (n=5016; 24% women), with 37% in NYHA II and 62% in NYHA III, ejection fraction 0.31, total cholesterol 5.2 mmol/L. Sixty percent have a history of myocardial infarction, 63% hypertension, and 30% diabetes. Patients are well treated for heart failure with 90% on loop or thiazide diuretics, 42% aldosterone antagonists, 91% ACE inhibitor or AT-I blocker, 75% beta-blockers, and 32% digitalis. Conclusion: CORONA is important for three main reasons: (1) A positive result is very important because of the high risk of the population studied, the increasing prevalence of elderly patients with chronic symptomatic systolic heart failure in our society, and the health economic issues involved. (2) If negative, new mechanistic questions about heart failure have to be raised. (3) If neutral we can avoid unnecessary polypharmacy.