Abstract

Background —We studied whether inflammation after myocardial infarction (MI) is a risk factor for recurrent coronary events and whether randomized treatment with pravastatin reduces that risk. Methods and Results —A nested case-control design was used to compare C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) levels in prerandomization blood samples from 391 participants in the Cholesterol and Recurrent Events (CARE) trial who subsequently developed recurrent nonfatal MI or a fatal coronary event (cases) and from an equal number of age- and sex-matched participants who remained free of these events during follow-up (control subjects). Overall, CRP and SAA were higher among cases than control subjects (for CRP P =0.05; for SAA P =0.006) such that those with levels in the highest quintile had a relative risk (RR) of recurrent events 75% higher than those with levels in the lowest quintile (for CRP RR=1.77, P =0.02; for SAA RR=1.74, P =0.02). The study group with the highest risk was that with consistent evidence of inflammation (elevation of both CRP and SAA) who were randomly assigned to placebo (RR=2.81, P =0.007); this risk estimate was greater than the product of the individual risks associated with inflammation or placebo assignment alone. In stratified analyses, the association between inflammation and risk was significant among those randomized to placebo (RR=2.11, P =0.048) but was attenuated and nonsignificant among those randomized to pravastatin (RR=1.29, P =0.5). Conclusions —Evidence of inflammation after MI is associated with increased risk of recurrent coronary events. Therapy with pravastatin may decrease this risk, an observation consistent with a nonlipid effect of this agent.

Keywords

PravastatinMedicineInternal medicineMyocardial infarctionRelative riskC-reactive proteinPlaceboInflammationRandomized controlled trialSerum amyloid ARisk factorSystemic inflammationCholesterolGastroenterologyCardiologyConfidence intervalPathology

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Publication Info

Year
1998
Type
article
Volume
98
Issue
9
Pages
839-844
Citations
1382
Access
Closed

External Links

View on DOI.org

Social Impact

Altmetric
PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

1382
OpenAlex

Cite This

Paul M. Ridker, Nader Rifai, Marc A. Pfeffer et al. (1998). Inflammation, Pravastatin, and the Risk of Coronary Events After Myocardial Infarction in Patients With Average Cholesterol Levels. Circulation , 98 (9) , 839-844. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.98.9.839

Identifiers

DOI
10.1161/01.cir.98.9.839