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on September 30, 2002

Circulation. 2002
Published online before print September 30, 2002, doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000035247.42888.82
A more recent version of this article appeared on October 22, 2002
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*Compound via MeSH
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Medline Plus Health Information
*Statins

Submitted on June 14, 2002
Revised on August 9, 2002
Accepted on August 9, 2002

Efficacy and Safety of Statin Therapy in Children With Familial Hypercholesterolemia. A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial With Simvastatin

Saskia de Jongh MD*, Leiv Ose MD, Tamás Szamosi MD, PhD, Claude Gagné MD, M. Lambert MD, Russell Scott MD, P. Perron MD, Dries Dobbelaere MD, M. Saborio MD, Mary B. Tuohy RN, Michael Stepanavage MS, Aditi Sapre PhD, Barry Gumbiner MD, Michele Mercuri MD, PhD, A.S. Paul van Trotsenburg MD, Henk D. Bakker MD, PhD, John J.P. Kastelein MD, PhD, and for the Simvastatin in Children Study Group

From the Department of Vascular Medicine (S.d.J., H.D.B., J.J.P.K.) and Emma Children's Hospital (S.d.J., A.S.P.v.T., H.D.B.), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Lipidklinikken (L.O.), Med. Avd. Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway; the Second Department of Pediatrics (T.S.), Medical Faculty, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary; Chul du Chuq (C.G.), Ste-Foy, Quebec, Canada; Service de Génétique Médicale (M.L.), Hôpital Ste-Justine, Québec, Canada; Christchurch Hospital (R.S.), Lipid and Diabetes Research Group, Canterbury, New Zealand; Clinique des Maladies Lipidiques (P.P.), Complexe Hospitalier de la Sagamie, Quebec, Canada; Hôpital Jeanne de Flandres (D.D.), Clinique Pediatric, Lille, France; Hospital Nacional de Niños (M. Saborio), San Jose, Costa Rica, and Merck Research Laboratories (M.B.T., M. Stepanavage, A.S., B.G., M.M.), Rahway, NJ.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: s.dejongh{at}amc.uva.nl.

Background—A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted to evaluate LDL cholesterol-lowering efficacy, overall safety, and tolerability and the influence on growth and pubertal development of simvastatin in a large cohort of boys and girls with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (heFH).

Methods and Results—A total of 173 heFH children (98 boys and 75 girls) were included in this study. After a 4-week diet/placebo run-in period, children with heFH were randomized to either simvastatin or placebo in a ratio of 3:2. Simvastatin was started at 10 mg/d and titrated at 8-week intervals to 20 and then 40 mg/d. During a 24-week extension period, the patients continued to receive simvastatin (40 mg) or placebo according to their assignment. After 48 weeks of simvastatin therapy, there were significant reductions of LDL cholesterol (-41%), total cholesterol (-31%), apolipoprotein B (-34%), VLDL cholesterol (-21%), and triglyceride (-9%) levels. HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I levels were increased by 3.3% and 10.4%, respectively (not significant). No safety issues became evident. Except for small decreases in dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate compared with placebo, there were no significant changes from baseline in adrenal, gonadal, and pituitary hormones in either treatment group.

Conclusions—Simvastatin significantly reduced LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglyceride, VLDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B levels and was well tolerated in children with heFH. There was no evidence of any adverse effect of simvastatin on growth and pubertal development. Therefore, simvastatin at doses up to 40 mg is a well-tolerated and effective therapy for heFH children.


Key words: cholesterol • drugs • hypercholesterolemia • lipids • pediatrics




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