Nikhil Raj P.V, Suchandra Sen
Atheroma is a focal disease which affects the intima of large as well as medium sized arteries. Numerous risk factors for atheromatous disease were recognized by epidemiological studies. Some of them cannot be altered (e.g. family history of ischemic heart disease. The main objective of the thesis was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of statins in an Indian population attending a cardiology clinic and thereby assess the utilization pattern of the drugs. It was a prospective study. The study was conducted in Department of Cardiology, Kovai Medical Center and Hospital in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The study was conducted over a period of 6 months from July 2011 to December 2011. The data was collected from various sources such as patient’s case reports, treatment charts and also through telephonic conversations with the patients. Patients who met the study criteria were included in the study. The study was explained to the patients and their oral consent was taken. Ethical committee approval was obtained from Kovai Medical Center and hospital. Parameters like age, sex, current medications, past medical and medical history were collected from treatment charts and patient’s case reports. Patient’s adherence to Statins was checked by using Morisky’s 8 questionnaires through telephonic interview with the patients. Naranjo’s causality assessment scale was used to assess the reported ADRs. In this prospective study, the utilization pattern of statins was evaluated in a total of 32 patients who were diagnosed with dyslipidemia for the first time and obtained there lipid profiles at least once during the study period. The LDL-C level of the patients was assessed at baseline and at review. In the study population the prevalence of dyslipidemia was high in males than in females. 93.75% of the patients were males and the remaining 6.25% of the patients were females. Most of the patients were at an age group of 61-70years.78.12% of the patients were using Atorvastatin and 21.88% of the patients were using Rosuvastatin. Among all the classes of Statin Atorvastatin 40mg was prescribed in most of the patients (28.12%). No patients were using Atorvastatin 20mg and Rosuvastatin 5mg. Atorvastatin 80mg was found to produce maximum lipid reduction among all the other classes of statins in the study population (37.62%) and the least by Atorvastatin 40mg. Atorvastatin showed a mean lipid reduction of 21.29%,24.16% at doses like 5mg and 10mg respectively. The main ADR found in the study population was muscle pain and was predominant in the age group of 61-70 years. The baseline LDL-C of the patients prescribed with Atorvastatin 10mg (145.25±21.96) was found to be higher than that of th patients with Atorvastatin 40mg (101.77±12.24).
