Effects of Statin Therapy on Endothelial Function in Asymptomatic Metabolic Syndrome

Endothelial dysfunction is an early predictor of adverse cardiovascular events. The present study evaluated asymptomatic metabolic syndrome (MS) patients with brachial artery endothelial dysfunction to determine whether a reversal of endothelial dysfunction occurs with statin treatment. This study aims to evaluate the short term effects of statins on endothelial function in asymptomatic metabolic syndrome patients. This was a prospective, single centre, case-control study. The researchers evaluated 50 recently diagnosed newly detected asymptomatic MS patients who underwent an assessment of endothelial function by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) before and after treatment with 40 mg atorvastatin for one week. They identified a significant difference between cases and age- and sex-matched controls regarding baseline brachial artery FMD%. Significant negative correlations were detected between FMD% and HDL-cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, and systolic blood pressure. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that HDL-cholesterol was an independently associated factor for FMD. MS patients treated with 40 mg atorvastatin for one week showed a significant improvement in brachial artery FMD%.