STRESS RESPONSES AFTER TREATMENT OF HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA WITH SIMVASTATIN

In order to determine whether treatment of hyperlipidaemia with simvas tatin impairs exercise stress responses and so may contribute to an ex cess of suicides and violent deaths, the effects of simvastatin 20 mg daily and placebo on exercise physiology were compared in 19 patients. After 6 weeks of treatment there was no evidence of reduced exercise capacity, or of reduced cortisol or catecholamine responses. It is con cluded that treatment of hyperlipidaemia with an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase does not significantly modify stress responses, and so the e xplanation for a possible increase in non-cardiac mortality must be so ught elsewhere.