Statin Administration in the Morning or in the Evening

Summary

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 8 studies with a total of 767 subjects with hyperlipidaemia. The studies compared morning versus evening administration of statins (lovastatin 2 studies, simvastatin 3 studies, fluvastatin 2 studies, pravastatin 1 study), and the study length ranged from 4 to 14 weeks. None of the included studies reported data on cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular morbidity, incidence of cardiovascular events, or deaths from any cause. There was no difference in total cholesterol (MD 4.33, 95% CI -1.36 to 10.01; 5 studies, n=514), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (MD 4.85 mg/dL, 95% CI -0.87 to 10.57; 5 studies, n=473), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (MD 0.54, 95% CI -1.08 to 2.17; 5 studies, n=514) or triglycerides (MD -8.91, 95% CI -22 to 4.17; 5 studies, n=510) between morning and evening statin administration.With regard to safety outcomes, 5 studies (n=556) reported adverse events. There were no differences in statins adverse events between morning and evening intake (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.15; 5 studies, n=556).