STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF PRAVASTATIN IN PATIENTS WITH GLOMERULONEPHRITIS ASSOCIATED WITH HYPERLIPIDEMIA

Pravastatin was administered at a dosage of 10 mg/d for 24 weeks to 21 outpatients with glomerulonephritis with accompanying hyperlipidemia who presented with total serum cholesterol levels of greater than or e qual to 220 mg/dL, As a result, significant reductions in total serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and apolipop rotein (ape) B levels were observed at 12 and 24 weeks after drug admi nistration when compared with the levels observed before treatment (to tal cholesterol, 308.7 +/- 52.3 mg/dL vs 250.8 +/- 40.8 mg/dL vs 238.4 +/- 34.5 mg/dL; LDL-C, 215.0 +/- 47.8 mg/dL vs 155.5 +/- 38.4 mg/dL v s 153.0 +/- 33.5 mg/dL; and apo B, 143.2 +/- 28.3 mg/dL vs 111.3 +/- 1 8.0 mg/dL vs 112.1 +/- 19.7 mg/dL; P < 0.01, respectively), Apo C-II v alues were also significantly reduced after 12 weeks (6.3 +/- 2.0 mg/d L vs 5.1 +/- 1.6 mg/dL; P < 0.05). There were no significant changes i n 24-hour urinary protein excretion throughout the course of the study , However, after 24 weeks of drug administration, proteinuria was redu ced by at least 25% in 11 of 21 patients (52.4%). There were no signif icant changes in renal function throughout this study, No problems rel ated to tolerability were observed in any of the patients studied. The se findings indicate that pravastatin improves lipid levels in patient s with glomerulonephritis and associated hyperlipidemia and exhibits a potential for reducing proteinuria, Therefore, these findings indicat e that pravastatin can be clinically useful.