Statins do not improve cardiovascular outcomes for dialysis patients

Commentary on: Palmer SC, Navaneethan SD, Craig JC, et al.. HMG CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) for dialysis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013;(9):CD004289. Context Chronic kidney disease affected nearly 19 million people in the USA, with incidence increasing globally at an annual rate of 8%, most of which were unrecognised or undiagnosed. Cardiovascular events are common among patients with chronic kidney disease and highest in dialysis patients. While dialysis patients experience a high prevalence of traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and obesity, CVD in such patients is driven predominately by non-traditional risk factors such as anaemia, calcium/phosphate calcification, proteinuria, oxidative stress and uraemic hyper coagulopathy. Approximately 25% of deaths are related to traditional atherosclerotic lesions rich in lipoproteins, while the remaining 75% are linked to atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, sudden death syndrome and heart failure....
Source: Evidence-Based Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Clinical trials (epidemiology), Epidemiologic studies, Drugs: cardiovascular system, Neuromuscular disease, Stroke, Hypertension, Obesity (nutrition), Ischaemic heart disease, Unwanted effects / adverse reactions, Renal medicine, Musculoskeletal syndromes Source Type: research