Author(s)

Boochi Babu Mannuva, Rajasekhar Durgaprasad, Vanajakshamma Velam, Vinod Kumar Mustyala, Latheef Kasala, Ashok Thakkar

Department of Cardiology, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati, India.
Department of Clinical Trials, Sahjanand Medical Technologies Pvt Ltd, Surat, India.

Context: Endothelial dysfunction is an early predictor of adverse cardiovascular events. The present study evaluated asymptomatic metabolic syndrome (MS) patients with brachial artery endothelial dysfunction to determine whether a reversal of endothelial dysfunction occurs with statin treatment. Aim: To evaluate the short term effects of statins on endothelial function in asymptomatic metabolic syndrome patients. Methodology: This was a prospective, single centre, case-control study. We evaluated 50 recently diagnosed newly detected asymptomatic MS patients who underwent an assessment of endothelial function by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) before and after treatment with 40 mg atorvastatin for one week. Results: A total of 50 MS patients, including 36 (62%) females and 14 (38%) males, were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 49.70 ± 8.84 y. We identified a significant difference between cases and age- and sex-matched controls regarding baseline brachial artery FMD% (6.73 ± 2.55 vs. 11.03 ± 1.85, respectively; p < 0.001). Significant negative correlations were detected between FMD% and HDL-cholesterol (r = -0.34, p = 0.01), fasting blood sugar (r = -0.40, p = 0.004), and systolic blood pressure (r = -0.34, p = 0.015). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that HDL-cholesterol was an independently associated factor for FMD. MS patients treated with 40 mg atorvastatin for one week showed a significant improvement in brachial artery FMD% (6.73 ± 2.55 before treatment vs. 10.19 ± 3.01 after treatment, p < 0.001). Conclusions: MS is associated with endothelial dysfunction and decreased brachial artery FMD compared with controls. Statin treatment for one week significantly improved brachial artery endothelial function in MS patients.

Metabolic Syndrome; Endothelial Dysfunction; Flow-Mediated Dilation; Brachial Artery; Statin

B. Mannuva, R. Durgaprasad, V. Velam, V. Mustyala, L. Kasala and A. Thakkar, "Effects of Statin Therapy on Endothelial Function in Asymptomatic Metabolic Syndrome," International Journal of Clinical Medicine, Vol. 5 No. 4, 2014, pp. 149-156. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2014.54026.