Comparative Analysis of Alternate Day and Daily Regimen of Atorvastatin in Dyslipidaemic South Indian Patients

Background: Atorvastatin is the most commonly used drug for the treatment of dyslipidaemia. Long term administration of statins helps in the reduction of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with dyslipidaemia. Number of studies have shown that alternate day dosing of statins is efficacious and safe alternative to daily dosing. Objectives: To compare the efficacy and tolerability of daily and alternate day regimen of Atorvastatin in the treatment of naïve dyslipidaemic South Indian patients. Materials and Methods: It is an open labeled, prospective, parallel, comparative interventional study. Ninety patients satisfying the inclusion criteria were randomized in to group 1 (n=45) and group 2 (n=45) and received atorvastatin 10 mg daily and alternate days respectively for 3 months. Pretreatment and post treatment anthropometric measurements, biochemical and lipid parameters were recorded. Patients were followed at fortnightly intervals for 3 months to check the patient compliance and adherence to treatment. Data were analyzed by suitable statistical methods. Results: There was a statistically significant reduction of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, VLDL and increase of HDL cholesterol in both groups. Post treatment between group comparison shows a significantly higher reduction of LDL in group 1 than group 2 patients. All other lipid parameters were significantly similar between the groups at 12 weeks follow-up. Daily and alternate day treatment were well tolerated by the patients of both the group and there was no untoward incident during the study period. Conclusion: Alternate day administration of atorvastatin causes a beneficial alternation of lipid parameters which helps in reducing the cost and adverse effects.