International Journal of Cardiology
Volume 135, Issue 3 , Pages e83-e84, 10 July 2009

Statins and prevention of atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure

  • Tong Liu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Cardiology, Tianjin Institute of Cardiology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, People's Republic of China
    • ,
  • Guangping Li

      Affiliations

    • Department of Cardiology, Tianjin Institute of Cardiology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, People's Republic of China
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +86 22 88328368; fax: +86 22 28261158.
    • ,
  • Panagiotis Korantzopoulos

      Affiliations

    • Department of Cardiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, 45001 Ioannina, Greece
    • ,
  • John A. Goudevenos

      Affiliations

    • Department of Cardiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, 45001 Ioannina, Greece

Received 3 January 2008; accepted 24 April 2008. published online 14 July 2008.

Abstract 

Statins are highly effective and widely used lipid-lowering agents in clinical practice, that also display a number of pleiotropic properties beyond cholesterol lowering. Several trials have demonstrated that they reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in both primary and secondary prevention. Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) represent 2 world-wide epidemics. Recent evidence suggests that statins may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with HF, and specifically in the prevention of AF. The anti-arrhythmic mechanisms of statins regarding AF prevention in HF patients are not fully understood but are possibly related to their pleiotropic effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, atrial remodeling attenuation, ion channel stabilization, and autonomic nervous system regulation.

Keywords: Atrial fibrillation, Heart failure, Statins, Inflammation, Oxidative stress, Atrial remodeling

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PII: S0167-5273(08)00627-X

doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2008.04.042

International Journal of Cardiology
Volume 135, Issue 3 , Pages e83-e84, 10 July 2009

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