Both cerivastatin and fenofibrate improve arterial vasoreactivity in patients with combined hyperlipidaemia

Objectives. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of cerivastatin and fenofibrate on endothelium dependent and independent arteria dilation. Design. In a prospective, double blind study, 38 overweight, nonsmoking, males aged between 40 and 60 years with combined hyperlipidaemia were randomized and, after 6 weeks run-in phase with American Heart Association stop I diet treatment, submitted to 12 weeks' treatment either with fenofibrate (250 mg daily) or cerivastatin. Cerivastatin was given In a daily dose of 0.2 mg for 6 weeks and was increased to 0.4 mg daily, if the LDL-C did not decrease below 3.0 mmol L-1. Flow-mediated (endothelium-dependent) dilation (FMD) and nitroglycerin-induced (endothelium-independent) [gliceryltrinitrate (GTN)] dilation of brachial artery were measured using high resolution ultrasound. Results. The FMD increased from 3.4 +/- 3.3 to 9.3 +/- 2.4% (P < 0.001) in the cerivastatin group, and from 3.3 +/- 2.8 to 6.5 +/- 3.1% (P < 0,001) in the fenofibrate group, the improvement being significantly better after cerivastatin (P = 0.006). GTN increased from 11.5 +/- 4.1 to 16.2 +/- 3.5% (P < 0.01) and from 11.1 +/- 2.3 to 16.0 +/- 2.9% (P < 0.01), respectively, with no difference between the groups. Cerivastatin reduced total cholesterol by 24%, LDL-cholesterol by 31%, triglycerides by 24%, ox-LDL by 29% and increased HDL-cholesterol by 5%, whilst, after fenofibrate, these changes were -15, -13, -41, -17 and 18%, respectively. Only the decrease of LDL-C turned out to be an independent predictor the FMD improvement. The improvement in GTN-induced dilation did not correlate with the changes in blood lipids. Conclusions. Both cerivastatin and fenofibrate lead to an improvement of endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent dilation of brachial artery in overweight patients with combined hyperlipidaemia and no other atherosclerotic risk factors. The effects on FMD were greater in subjects receiving cerivastatin than in subjects receiving fenofibrate, but the effects on GTN were equal in both groups.