A Rapid Effect of Rosuvastatin and Atorvastatin on Myocardial Damage, as Measured by High Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin-I in Subjects With Stable Cardiovascular Disease, Results From the RADAR Substudy

Introduction: Elevated troponin within the normal range is an emerging independent predictor of cardiovascular (CV) mortality. Recently, a randomized trial showed that troponin levels were lowered with 13% at 1 year in the pravastatin group as compared with placebo. However, the earliest onset of this effect, and differences between statins, are unknown. Thus, this randomized study sought to determine in what time frame troponin levels are lowered when using atorvastatin (ATOR) or rosuvastatin (ROSU) in pts with stable CV disease (CVD). Methods: In the RADAR (Rosuvastatin and Atorvastatin in different Dosages And Reverse cholesterol transport) substudy, aged 40-80 years, with stable CVD and HDL-C u003c1.0 mmol/L, were randomized, after a dietary run-in phase, to ATOR 20 mg/day (n = 41) or ROSU 10 mg/day (n = 39). The doses were up-titrated in 6 week intervals to 80 mg of ATOR or 40 mg of ROSU in all pts. High sensitivity cardiac troponin-I (hscTn-I) concentrations were measured at baseline and at 6 and 18 wee...