Table 4.

Cholesterol-lowering trials in postmyocardial infarction patients.

Trial	4S [54]	CARE [55]	LIPID [56]
Patients	4444	4159	9,014
MI/Angina-only (%)	79/21	100/0	64/36
Age (years)	35–70	21–75	31–75
M/F (%)	81/19	86/14	83/17
Lipid criteria
Total cholesterol	5.5–8.0	< 6.2	4.0–7.0
LDL-cholesterol	3.0–4.5
Triglycerides	< 2.5	< 4.0	< 5.0
Drug	Simvastatin	Pravastatin	Pravastatin
(mean dose)	27.4 mg	40 mg	40 mg
Impact on lipids
Total cholesterol	↓25%	↓18%
LDL-cholesterol	↓35%	↓32%	↓25%
Triglycerides	↓10%	↓14%	↓11%
HDL-cholesterol	↑8%	↑5%	↑5%
Duration (median, range, years)	5.4 (4.9–6.3)	5.0 (4.0–6.2)	Av. 6.1 years
Annual cardiac event rate	7.2%	2.6%	8.3%
Clinical events (% reduction, 95%CI)
Death	30 (15–42) 0.0003	9 (−12–26) 0.37	24 (12–35) < 0.001
Coronary death	42 (27–54)	20 (−5–39) 0.10	25 (13–35) < 0.001
Non-fatal MI	37(20–34)	23 (4–39) 0.02
Revascularization	37 (26–46) 0.00001	27 (15–37) < 0.001	20 (10–28) < 0.001
Stroke	30 (4–48) 0.024	31 (3–52) 0.03	19 (0–34) 0.048
Side effects (%, statin/placebo)
transaminases > 3x	2.2/1.5	3.2/3.5	2.1/1.9
creatine kinase > 10x	0.3/0.04	0.6/0.3
myositis	0.04/0	0/0.2	0.2/0.2
cancers	4.1/4.3	8.3/7.7	2.8/3.1