The incidence of major coronary events for untreated patients was 16.7 events per 1,000 person-years for an LDL cholesterol level of 128 mg/dL. There was a 36% change in risk for each 39-mg/dL change in LDL cholesterol.
The incidence of major coronary events with simvastatin was 11.0/1,000 person-years.
Statin treatment would prevent about 71,000 major coronary events per year in the US population with diabetes and no coronary heart disease, 18% (13,000) of these being in the population with LDL cholesterol levels of 100 - 129 mg/dL.
Some examples of the effectiveness of lipid-lowering treatments are given below.
For a LDL cholesterol level of 100 - 129 mg/dL:
with atorvastatin 10 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 26% and 13,000 cardiac events were prevented per year;
with simvastatin 10 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 27% and 13,500 cardiac events were prevented per year;
with lovastatin 20 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 25% and 12,500 cardiac events were prevented per year;
with fluvastatin 40 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 25% and 12,500 cardiac events were prevented per year; and
with pravastatin 20 mg, lipid-lowering effect was 24% and 12,000 cardiac events were prevented per year.
For a LDL cholesterol level of 130 - 149 mg/dL:
with atorvastatin 20 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 39% and 18,000 cardiac events were prevented per year;
with simvastatin 20 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 33% and 15,300 cardiac events were prevented per year;
with lovastatin 40 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 30% and 13,800 cardiac events were prevented per year;
with fluvastatin 80 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 32% and 14,800 cardiac events were prevented per year; and
with pravastatin 40 mg, the lipid-lowering effect was 29% and 13,200 cardiac events were prevented per year.