The effect of Simvastatin on the plasma antioxidant concentrations in patients with hypercholesterolaemia

The aim of the study was to monitor the antioxidant status of patients with hypercholesterolaemia during treatment with Simvastatin. Forty-seven patients, of whom 25 had confirmed familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), were treated with 10 or 20 mg of Simvastatin per day for 14 weeks. As expected, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations decreased considerably, while HDL cholesterol concentrations increased during drug treatment. In neither FH nor non-FH patients were any significant changes observed for retinol status, while plasma vitamin C concentrations were also not adversely affected by the drug therapy. In both patient groups Simvastatin therapy led to a significant decrease in plasma α-tocopherol ( P