Statins May Reduce Atrial Fibrillation in Heart Failure Patients

Statins May Reduce Atrial Fibrillation in Heart Failure Patients
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 03 - Statin therapy does not appear to reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with coronary heart disease in general, but does do so in those patients who also have congestive heart failure (CHF), Minneapolis-based researchers report in the December issue of the American Heart Journal.

\"Currently there aren't many well-tolerated medications to prevent atrial fibrillation,\" lead investigator Dr. A. Selcuk Adabag commented to Reuters Health.

Dr. Adabag of the University of Minnesota and colleagues note that statins appear to reduce the incidence of life-threatening arrhythmias in patients with cardiomyopathy, and death and hospitalization in patients with CHF.

To investigate whether the approach would help prevent AF in patients with coronary heart disease, including those with CHF, the researchers studied 13,783 such patients. Of this group, 5417 (39%) received statin treatment.

After an average follow-up of 4.8 years, 14% of the subjects developed AF.

There was no overall difference in incidence of AF between patients who did or did not receive statins.

However, in the subgroup of patients with CHF, there was a reduction in AF incidence of 43% among those treated with statins. This finding, the investigators point out, complements those of other recent investigations of the benefit of statins in CHF patients.

The researchers stress that the subjects were mainly male veterans and the findings may not be directly applicable to other populations. Nevertheless, they conclude that \"even modest reductions in AF incidence achieved with relatively safe medicines may have a substantial impact.\"

However, Dr. Adabag concluded by noting that \"observational studies such as this one may be confounded and the findings need to be confirmed in a randomized clinical trial.\"

Am Heart J 2007;154:1140-1145.