OBJECTIVEThis prospective registered study was conducted to investigate the impact of statins (pravastatin, fluvastatin, atorvastatin) on clopidogrel platelet inhibition in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or stable angina.

METHODSA total of 1015 consecutive patients with ACS or stable angina underwent coronary angiography/percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were allocated to pravastatin group (n = 228), fluvastatin group (n = 179), atorvastatin group (n = 481) or placebo control group (n = 127). Baseline characteristics, coronary angiography/PCI features and acute stent thrombosis, platelet aggregation induced by 2, 5, 10 and 20 micromol adenosine diphosphate (ADP) at 1 minute (ADP-1), 5 minutes (ADP-5) and maximal platelet aggregation (ADP-M) were compared among groups.

RESULTSBaseline and procedural characteristics were comparable among the four groups. Acute stent thrombosis (pravastatin group 0.9%, fluvastatin group 1.1%, atorvastatin group 1.0% and control group 0.8%, all P > 0.05), ADP-1, ADP-5, and ADP-M (all P > 0.05) were also similar among groups. Multivariate liner and ordinal logistic analysis revealed that age (B = 0.21, P = 0.001), dose of clopidogrel (B = 7.30, P = 0.002) and use of low-molecular heparin (OR = 6.71, P = 0.01) were independent factors for platelet aggregation inhibition efficacy by clopidogrel.

CONCLUSIONInhibition of platelet aggregation with clopidogrel was influenced by age, clopidogrel dose and low-molecular heparin but not by various statin treatments.