Effects of pitavastatin on walking capacity and CD34^sup +^/133^sup +^ cell number in patients with peripheral artery disease

• Published in: Heart and vessels 2017-10, Vol.32 (10), p.1186
• Main Authors: Arao, Kenshiro, Yasu, Takanori, Endo, Yasuhiro, Funazaki, Toshikazu, Ota, Yoshimi, Shimada, Kazunori, Tokutake, Eiichi, Naito, Naoki, Takase, Bonpei, Wake, Minoru, Ikeda, Nahoko, Horie, Yasuto, Sugimura, Hiroyuki, Momomura, Shin-ichi, Kawakami, Masanobu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ankle; CD34 antigen; Cell number; Cholesterol; Comparative studies; Low density lipoprotein; Patients; Peripheral blood; Skin; Skin tests; Walking
• ISSN: 0910-8327; 1615-2573
• DOI: 10.1007/s00380-017-0988-1

This multi-center prospective non-randomized comparative study investigated the effects of pitavastatin in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) in terms of exercise tolerance capacities and peripheral CD34+/133+ cell numbers. At baseline, a peripheral blood test was administered to 75 patients with PAD, along with a treadmill exercise test using the Skinner–Gardner protocol to measure asymptomatic walking distance (AWD) and maximum walking distance (MWD). Each patient was assigned to a 6-month pitavastatin treatment group (n = 53) or a control group (n = 22), according to the patient’s preference. The tests were repeated in both groups at 3 and 6 months. Baseline AWD and MWD correlated positively with the ankle-brachial pressure index (r = 0.342, p = 0.0032 and r = 0.324, p = 0.0054, respectively). Both AWD and MWD values improved at 3 and 6 months compared with baseline, and the degrees of their improvement were higher in the pitavastatin treatment group. CD34+/133+ cell numbers did not change over time or between groups. Eighty-seven percent of patients in the treatment group attained low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels below 100 mg/dL after 3 months. The study shows that pitavastatin may be effective in increasing exercise tolerance capacity in patients with PAD.