STOPPING A STATIN AFTER LDL FALLS
After approximately nine months of therapy with a statin (10 mg) and fish oil, my patient’s cholesterol is 131 mg/dL, triglycerides 153 mg/dL, LDL 62 mg/dL, and HDL 38 mg/dL. For how long should the statin be continued? Can it be stopped or taken every other day or every other week?
—Mustafa M. Rehab, MD, Greensburg, Ind.
If you stop statin therapy, lipid levels soon return to pretreatment values. Taking the medication every other day is equivalent to cutting the dose in half, which may be appropriate in instances such as this one in which the lipid levels are very low.
—Peter F. Cohn, MD (110-1)
