People with diabetes, chronic kidney disease (CKD) and coronary heart disease benefit from having their cholesterol lowered aggressively with high doses of Lipitor, according to a Mayo Clinic report. Individuals with both diabetes and CKD are at a much greater risk of major cardiovascular event and death than those with either condition alone.
 
Researchers examined the effect of intensive cholesterol lowering with high-dose versus low-dose Lipitor (atorvastatin) in patients with coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes, with or without chronic kidney disease. Among the patients with kidney disease, a heart-related event occurred in 14 percent of those given high-dose atorvastatin and in 21 percent on low-dose atorvastatin during five years of follow-up.
 
The researchers recommend that cholesterol-lowering should be started for these patients early in the course of CKD.

This article originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of Kidney Beginnings: The Electronic Newsletter.