This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Atorvastatin reduced oxidative stress in patients with PCOS
Recent data showed that 12 weeks of treatment with atorvastatin led to a significant decrease in oxidative stress in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome, thus confirming the pleiotropic effects of statins.
“We have already shown that atorvastatin improves biochemical hyperandrogenemia, insulin resistance, and markers of inflammation as well as augments the effects of metformin in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome,” researchers wrote. “This study was done to investigate whether any of these changes were mediated by the effect of atorvastatin on oxidative stress by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in this cohort of patients with PCOS.”
Thozhukat Sathyapalan, MD, senior lecturer in the academic endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism department at Hull York Medical School and honorary consultant physician in Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, and colleagues conducted a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study of 40 medication-naive patients with PCOS. Patients were randomly assigned to receive atorvastatin 20 mg (Lipitor, Pfizer) or placebo daily for 3 months. Thirty-seven patients completed a 3-month extension study during which metformin 1,500 mg was administered daily.
Sathyapalan and colleagues found a significant decrease in MDA concentrations with atorvastatin (P<.01) vs. placebo (P=.52). Additionally, after 3 months of metformin treatment, patients receiving atorvastatin experienced further reductions in MDA levels compared with baseline (P=.02), researchers wrote.
Moreover, significant correlations were found between the reduction in MDA and reductions in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (P<.01) and testosterone levels (P=.01), and an increase in 25-hydroxyvitamin D (P=.02), according to data.
“These correlations were lost after treatment with subsequent metformin in the atorvastatin group,” the researchers wrote.
After 12 weeks of treatment with atorvastatin 20 mg daily, reductions in MDA were associated with reductions in high-sensitivity CRP, total testosterone and increases in serum 25-(OH)D levels. However, researchers found no significant link between the decreases in MDA and changes in lipid parameters.
The effect on MDA concentrations may explain the favorable pleiotropic effect of statins, researchers wrote.
Disclosure: This study was supported by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer. The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.