Data Show Diabetics Taking Lipitor Had Reductions in Heart Attack, Stroke

Data show that patients with diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD) who took Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor and lowered their cholesterol to well below recommended levels experienced significantly fewer heart attacks and strokes than those who lowered their cholesterol to achieve recommended levels.

The findings are from a post-hoc analysis that involved 1,500 people with heart disease and diabetes and an LDL, or "bad" cholesterol level of less than 130 mg/dL from the five-year "Treating to New Targets Trial."

In the analysis, patients who received atorvastatin 80 mg experienced 25 percent fewer cardiovascular events, including CHD death, nonfatal heart attacks, resuscitated cardiac arrest, and fatal or nonfatal strokes, compared to patients who took atorvastatin 10 mg. By the end of the study, LDL cholesterol levels were significantly lower in the 80 mg group compared to the 10-mg group.