Heart disease is the primary cause of death for the more than 20 million people in the United States with chronic kidney disease (CKD). For kidney patients who have secondary diagnoses of coronary artery disease or diabetes, which puts them at particularly high risk of heart attack or stroke, the cholesterol-lowering drugs statins are routinely prescribed.
But for the remainder of patients with chronic kidney disease, it’s unclear whether statin treatment is either cost effective or medically prudent. A Stanford study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology sheds some light on the issue.
...At very low prices, generic statins are cost-effective in nearly all patients with chronic kidney disease
"We did a cost-effectiveness analysis weighing the potential benefits in patients with chronic kidney disease and hypertension," first author Kevin Erickson, MD, a Stanford nephrologist, recently explained to me. “We essentially show that at very low prices, generic statins are cost-effective in nearly all patients with chronic kidney disease, but at average retail prices they are only cost-effective in patients with kidney disease who have higher cardiovascular risk.”
The study also indicates that adverse side effects of these drugs, including muscle-related toxicity, and potential diabetes and memory loss, should be taken into consideration by clinicians when determining treatment options. "While statins reduce absolute [cardiovascular disease] risk in patients with CKD, increased risk of rhabdomyolysis, and competing risks associated with progressive CKD, partly offset these gains," Erickson and his co-authors cautioned in the paper.
Previously: Wider statin use may be cost-effective way to prevent heart attacks
