Associations between change in C-reactive protein and serum lipids during statin treatment

Hypolipidaemic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase in hibitor (statin) treatment Seduces cardiovascular risk and is also associat ed with the reduction of C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations. However, there is scant data concerning the relationship between CRP and lipid chang es during statin treatment. We studied 60 hypercholesterolaemic coronary pa tients who participated in the Treat to Target (3T) study comparing atorvas tatin and simvastatin. Serum lipids and CRP (with a sensitive method) were measured before treatment at baseline and after 12 months of statin treatme nt. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was substantially decreased a nd high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol increased during statin treat ment. CRP decreased significantly (sign test P = 0.03) during treatment, an d the changes of CRP were significantly associated with changes in HDL chol esterol (r = -0.45; P < 0.001) and apolipoprotein A1 (r = -0.40; P < 0.001) but not with changes in LDL cholesterol or triglycerides. The change in HD L cholesterol explained 20% of the change in CRP during statin treatment. T he results are in line with previous suggestions that HDL has anti-inflamma tory properties.