a comparison between fluvastatin and lovastatin effects in iranian patients with hypercholesterolemia

the aim of this study was to determine the effect of lovastatin and fluvastatin compared with placebo in patients with high levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (ldl - cj on plasma lipid profile. in a prospective single blind clinical trial with convenient sampling 120 hypercholesterolemia men and women with total cholesterol > 220 mg/dl, ldl - c > 160 mgidl, triglyceride < 350 tngldl were selected and we divided them in 3 groups randomly. first group look lovastatin 20 mg daily, second group took fluvastatin 40 mg daily and third group took a placebo, all for 12 weeks. compared with placebo, drug therapy of hypercholesterolemia with either lovastatin or fluvastatin decreases total cholesterol and ldl- c significantly but has no effect on high density lipoprotein and triglyceride. decrease of total cholesterol and ldl - c in both drugs are the same after first 6 weeks but lovastatin was more effective after second 6 weeks. mild increase in alanine aminotransferase (alt) and white blood cells (wbc) in the fluvastatin group appeared after 6 and 12 weeks that their means werent more than 21 for alt and 7000 for wbc.