POSTED AT 10:44 PM EST Monday, March 04 Stopping statins can be deadly Associated Press Dallas � Hospitalized heart patients who abruptly stop taking cholesterol-lowering drugs suffer a rebound effect that makes them three times more likely to die or have a heart attack than those who stay on the medicine, researchers say. The German researchers found that patients hospitalized for acute chest pains lose the protective benefits of statin drugs in as little as 24 hours after stopping the medicine because their nitric oxide levels quickly fall to below-normal levels. The study, published in Tuesday's issue of the journal Circulation, did not look at people who take statins on a daily basis and do not need to be hospitalized. Millions of North Americans take such drugs, sold under such brand names as Lipitor, Zocor and Mevacor. "The message to physicians is: Don't stop statins," said lead author Christian Hamm, director of cardiology at the Kerckhoff Heart Center in Bad Nauheim and professor of medicine and cardiology at the University of Hamburg. "We tried to show that the withdrawal of statins in humans results in a rebound phenomenon and has an adverse impact on patients with acute coronary syndromes." In addition to lowering cholesterol, statins reduce artery inflammation, hinder the blood's ability to clot, speed the growth of muscle cells in the arteries and increase the release of protective nitric oxide from the cells lining the inner walls of heart arteries, Dr. Hamm said. The study examined the medical records of 1,616 patients who previously had participated in an international clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of two blood-thinning drugs. The researchers also looked at animal studies. When admitted to the hospital, 465 patients had been taking statins for six months. Statin therapy was continued in 379 patients and discontinued in 86. After 30 days, researchers examined the rates of death and non-fatal heart attacks. Patients taken off the drugs after hospitalization were 2.9 times more likely to die or have a heart attack than those who stayed on the medication. "The increase in deaths and acute heart attacks was only explained by the statin withdrawal," Dr. Hamm said. Since there are no guidelines specifically suggesting hospitalized patients discontinue the use of statins, Dr. Hamm said doctors probably assumed that statins were no longer beneficial or simply forgot to continue the drugs. Dr. James de Lemos, a cardiologist and professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, said the study shows that statins work directly on the walls of blood vessels. "This early rebound effect is a little surprising. We haven't thought it was such a big deal to withdrawal this drug," he said. "We should do everything we can to make sure patients are taking them in the hospitals." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email! http://mail.yahoo.com/
