Measurement of C-Reactive Protein for the Targeting of Statin Therapy in the Primary Prevention of Acute Coronary Events

Treatment with lovastatin reduced the risk of coronary events. Both the Air Force/Texas Coronary Atherosclerosis Prevention Study (AFCAPS/TexCAPS) and the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study demonstrated that inhibitors of hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase (statins) reduce the risk of first coronary events. 1 , 2 However, the use of statins for primary prevention has not been widely adopted, in part because the number of persons who need to be treated to prevent one clinical event is relatively large and the cost of this approach is substantial. 3 A method of distinguishing high-risk from low-risk patients might make possible better targeting of statin therapy for primary prevention. 4 For example, restricting statin use . . .