Most patients who stop statin therapy because of adverse side effects can be successfully restarted by gradually increasing the dosage frequency, according to a US study of 1605 statin-intolerant patients.
The patients were slowly rechallenged with the statin, starting once a week, gradually increased to twice per week, then three times per week, until 72% were once again taking a statin daily.
There was a trend toward a reduction in all-cause mortality for patients on the daily and intermittent statin dosing compared with the 442 patients who were unable to restart statin therapy, but the reduction did not reach statistical significance.
The study was published in the latest issue of the American Heart Journal.
