STATIN THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES AND HEPATITIS C
EMILIA RUSU1,2, MARIANA JINGA2,3*, FLORIN RUSU3, COZIANA CIURTIN4, GEORGIANA ENACHE5, ANDREEA DRAGOMIR2, VASILICA CRISTESCU1, VICTOR STOICA2, ADRIAN COSTACHE2, DAN CHETA1, GABRIELA RADULIAN1,2
1“Prof. N. Paulescu” Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases Institute, Bucharest
2“Carol Davila” University of Medicine, Bucharest
3“Carol Davila” Emergency Military Hospital, Bucharest
4Lister Hospital, London
5County Emergency Hospital Calarasi, Calarasi
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The objective of this study was to determine the effects of statin therapy
(atorvastatin) on serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase
(ALT) levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic hepatitis C
(CHC).
A number of 77 patients with T2DM and CHC were selected, treated with
atorvastatin, 20 mg, for 6 months, who underwent anthropometric measurements and
biochemical tests (including fasting serum glucose, lipid profile, liver profile, cytokines
profile) at baseline, after 1 month (clinical and biochemical profile for safety) and after 6
months of treatment.
The patients’ average age was 52.53±9.7 years. Plasma low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol (LDL-C) (-32.4 mg/dL), triglycerides (-29.7 mg/dL), total cholesterol (-32.8
mg/dL) decreased (p<0.05), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (+3.04
mg/dL) increased (p<0.05), after 6 months. Atorvastatin treatment was associated with
decreases of AST, ALT, and also leptin and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels (all p<0.05) but we
did not find any effect on plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (p=0.119).
Atorvastatin was an effective and well tolerated treatment for lowering total
cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides in patients with CHC. Among patients with CHC there
was no significant elevation of liver enzymes during statin treatment, and we even noticed
an improvement of hepatic profile.
