Effects of atorvastatin on levels of serum cardiac troponin I and prognosis in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy

AIM:To study the effects of atorvastain on serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels and the prognosis in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). METHODS: Seventy two consecutive patients hospitalized for DCM were divided randomly into two groups: statin group and no-statin group. There were no significant differences between groups according to gender, age, history of DCM, NYHA cardiac functional grading, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD) and cardiac arrhythmia. Patients of both groups were treated with conventional medication for anti-heart failure strategies, whereas patients in statin group were additionally given atorvastatin (10 mg daily). Both groups were followed up for ~1 year. Changes of cTnI levels were determined before and after 3 months treatment. Risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) was evaluated including cardiovascular mortality, resuscitated cardiac arrest and stroke, and rates of rehospitalization for worsening heart failure (HF) during 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: Lower levels of the cTnI were observed in the statin group compared with those in the no-statin group after 3 months treatment but no significant difference was seen. There were 30 episodes of MACE during follow-up, 16 in no-statin group and 14 in statin group (P>0.05) and a nonsignificant trend toward lower readmission rate for worsening HF in statin group (33% vs. 48%, P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Low-dose atorvastatin therapy has no significant beneficial effect on the prognosis in DCM patients and did not significantly reduce the rate of rehospitalization for worsening HF.