Abstract
Background/Objective: Effects of atorvastatin (Lipitor) drug monotherapy (1 0 mg daily) on fasting blood Iipid profiles and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks were examined for a single subject with C5-C6 tetraplegia. Routine fasting Iipid profiles were analyzed by standard biochemistry techniques for total cholesterol (TC) , triglycerides (TG) , low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) , and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C). Lipid profiles were analyzed on 3 occasions before drug therapy was initiated and 3 months after therapy commenced. The TC:HDL and LDL:HDL ratios were computed for all sampling times and used to assess pretreatment and post-treatment CVD risk.
Results: Fasting TC, TG, and LDL-C were all significantly reduced by therapy. The pretreatment HDL-C of 3 5 mg/ dl was lowered to 21 mg/ dl. As a result, the TC:HDL risk ratiowas only marginally reduced from 6 .6 to 6.4, whereas the LDL:HDL risk ratio remained unchanged by treatment.
Conclusions: In this man with tetraplegia, atorvastatin drug monotherapy rapidly lowered TC, TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C. However, the TC: HDL ratio, considered the best predictor of CVD risk, was unchanged.
