Aggressive Cholesterol Lowering Delays Saphenous Vein Graft Atherosclerosis in Women, the Elderly, and Patients With Associated Risk Factors

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Background—The NHLBI Post Coronary Artery Bypass Graft trial (Post CABG) showed that aggressive compared with moderate lowering of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) decreased obstructive changes in saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) by 31%.1 Using lovastatin and cholestyramine when necessary, the annually determined mean LDL-C level ranged from 93 to 97 mg/dL in aggressively treated patients and from 132 to 136 mg/dL in the others (PMethods and Results—The present study evaluated the treatment effect in subgroups defined by age, gender, and selected coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors, ie, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) Conclusions—Aggressive LDL-C lowering delays progression of atherosclerosis in SVGs irrespective of gender, age, and certain risk factors for CHD.

This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit: