Effects of Pravastatin(Mevalotin®) on Hyperlipidemia

Suh, Soon Kyu; Rhee, Kun Joo

doi:10.4070/kcj.1990.20.4.784

Korean Circ J. 1990 Dec;20(4):784-792. Korean.
Published online Dec 31, 1990.
https://doi.org/10.4070/kcj.1990.20.4.784

Original Article

Effects of Pravastatin(Mevalotin®) on Hyperlipidemia

Soon Kyu Suh, M.D. and Kun Joo Rhee, M.D.

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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Effects of Pravastatin(Mevalotin®), a new HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor on the blood lipids were studied for the period of 3 months in 40 subjects with hypercholesterolemia more than 250mg/dl. Age of the subject was 50 years in average with range of 34 to 72 years. There were 22 cases of male and 18 cases of female. The cause of hyperlipidemia was not specified, but there were no case of liver, thyroid and renal disease. The 10mg of Preavastatin was given in devided doses in the morning and at bed time for 3 months. Serum LDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride and atherogenic index were measured before and after the medication in every month and following results were obtained.

1) Serum cholesterol decreased maximally at 2months after the medication with average decrease of LDL-cholesterol 79.8mg/dl(43%), serum total cholesterol 99.8mg/dl(34%) and the atherogenic index 3.0(45%). The decrease of total serum cholesterol was dependent on the pretreatment level.

2) The serum triglyceride decreased in average 81mg/dl(26%) in one month after the medication however the change was not statistically significant because of wide variation.

3) The HDL-cholesterol decreased in average 1.6mg/dl(4%) in one month and statistically significant.

4) The serum total cholesterol started to change in 3 days and tended to decrease with unstable variation up to the end of 2 weeks after the medication. In one month after cutting drug, there were slight increase of cholesterol but did not return to control value.

5) The significant effect of blood lipid lowering drug in non-specific hyperlipidemia should be evaluated when the changes are more than intra-individual variation of blood lipids.

6) There were only 2 cases of side effect with epigastric pain and fullness which subsided soon and there was no change in liver functions, serum creatinine and fasting blood sugar after the medication.

In conclusion, the pravastatin is an excellent new lipid lowering drug with safety.