Rosuvastatin for primary prevention among individuals with elevated high-sensitivity c-reactive protein and 5% to 10% and 10% to 20% 10-year risk. Implications of the Justification for Use of Statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER) trial for "intermediate risk"

Background-Recent primary prevention guidelines issued in Canada endorse the use of statin therapy among individuals at "intermediate risk" who have elevated levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP). However, trial data directly addressing whether this recommendation defines a patient population in which statin therapy is effective have not previously been published. Methods and Results-In the Justification for Use of Statins in Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER) trial, which demonstrated a 44% reduction in first vascular events when rosuvastatin 20 mg was compared with placebo among 17 802 primary prevention patients with LDL cholesterol = 2 mg/L, 6091 participants (2525 women, 3566 men) had baseline estimated 10-year Framingham risks of 5% to 10% and 7340 participants (1404 women, 5936 men) had baseline estimated Framingham risk of 11% to 20%. In these 2 "intermediate risk" subgroups, relative risk reductions consistent with the overall trial treatment effect were observed (hazard ratio, 0.55; 95% confidence interval, 0.36 to 0.84; 5-year number needed to treat=40, P=0.005 for those with 5% to 10% risk; hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.39 to 0.68, 5-year number needed to treat=18, P