Effects of Statin Therapy on Endothelial Function in Asymptomatic Metabolic Syndrome

Context: Endothelial dysfunction is an early predictor of adverse cardiovascular events. The present study evaluated asymptomatic metabolic syndrome (MS) patients with brachial artery endothelial dysfunction to determine whether a reversal of endothelial dysfunction occurs with statin treatment. Aim: To evaluate the short term effects of statins on endothelial function in asymptomatic metabolic syndrome patients. Methodology: This was a prospective, single centre, case-control study. We evaluated 50 recently diagnosed newly detected asymptomatic MS patients who underwent an assessment of endothelial function by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) before and after treatment with 40 mg atorvastatin for one week. Results: A total of 50 MS patients, including 36 (62%) females and 14 (38%) males, were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 49.70 ± 8.84 y. We identified a significant difference between cases and age- and sex-matched controls regarding baseline brachial artery FMD% (6.73 ± 2.55 vs. 11.03 ± 1.85, respectively; p < 0.001). Significant negative correlations were detected between FMD% and HDL-cholesterol (r = -0.34, p = 0.01), fasting blood sugar (r = -0.40, p = 0.004), and systolic blood pressure (r = -0.34, p = 0.015). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that HDL-cholesterol was an independently associated factor for FMD. MS patients treated with 40 mg atorvastatin for one week showed a significant improvement in brachial artery FMD% (6.73 ± 2.55 before treatment vs. 10.19 ± 3.01 after treatment, p < 0.001). Conclusions: MS is associated with endothelial dysfunction and decreased brachial artery FMD compared with controls. Statin treatment for one week significantly improved brachial artery endothelial function in MS patients.