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

To evaluate the effect of pitavastatin on high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in patients with hypercholesterolemia, and determine risk factors for the effect.This study was a 12-week, multicenter, open-label, without parallel-group comparison, phase IV clinical trail.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 P0.05). 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 (P0.01).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.