Translated Paper: Comparison of efficacy and safety of atorvastatin (10 mg) and simvastatin (10 mg) at six weeks.

The 6-week efficacy and safety of atorvastatin versus simvastatin was deter mined during a 54-week, open-label, multicenter, parallel-arm, treat-to-tar get study. In all, 1,424 patients with mixed dyslipidemia (triglyceride 200 to 600 mg/dl [2.26 to 6.77 mmol/L]) were stratified to 1 of 2 groups (diab etes or no diabetes). Patients were then randomized to receive either atorv astatin 10 mg/day (n = 730) or simvastatin 10 mg/day (n = 694), Efficacy wa s determined by measuring changes from baseline in lipid parameters includi ng low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglyceri des, and apolipoprotein B, Compared with simvastatin, atorvastatin produced significantly greater (p < 0.0001) reductions from baseline in LDL cholest erol (37.2 % vs 29.6 %), total cholesterol (27.6 % vs 21.5 %), triglyceride s (22.1 % vs 16.0 %), the ratio of LDL cholesterol to high-density Lipoprot ein (HDL) cholesterol (41.1% vs 33.7 %), and apolipoprotein B (28.3 % vs 21 .2 %), and a comparable increase from baseline in HDL cholesterol (7.4 % vs 6.9 %), Atorvastatin was also significantly (p < 0.0001) more effective th an simvastatin at treating the overall patient population to LDL cholestero l goals (55.6 % vs 38.4 %), Fewer than 6 % of patients in either treatment group experienced drug-attributable adverse events, which were mostly mild to moderate in nature. Diabetic patients treated with either statin had saf ety characteristics similar to nondiabetics, with atorvastatin exhibiting s uperior efficacy to simvastatin. In conclusion, atorvastatin, at a dose of 10 mg/day, is more effective than simvastatin 10 mg/day at lowering lipids and reaching LDL cholesterol goals in patients with mixed dyslipidemia. Bot h statins are well tolerated with safety profiles similar to other members of the statin class.