Background: Following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), elevations in serum creatinine level and declines in glomerular filtration rate are common. Prior studies have demonstrated benefit of chronic statin therapy in the prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN); however, it is unknown whether chronic statin therapy reduces the incidence of CIN in the non-emergent PCI setting.
Methods: Using the 2004-2005 Cornell Angioplasty Registry, a total of 1171 consecutive patients were selected for analysis. The population was divided into two groups: (1) patients on chronic (≥30 days) statin therapy prior to PCI (n = 874); and (2) patients not on chronic statin therapy (n = 297).
Results: Patients taking chronic statin therapy were more likely to have diabetes mellitus (35.7% vs 22.6%; P<.001), previous myocardial infarction (36.3% vs 20.5%; P<.001), previous PCI (38.9% vs 16.2%; P<.001), and previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery (19.5% vs 11.4%; P=.01). Statin users were also more likely to be taking long-term aspirin (77.8% vs 59.6%; P<.001) and clopidogrel therapy (29.9% vs 14.1%; P<.001). Baseline serum creatinine levels were comparable between the two groups, as were procedural characteristics. The incidence of CIN following PCI was not significantly different between patients on chronic statin therapy versus those not on chronic statin therapy (4.2% vs 5.4%; P=.42). However, after multivariate adjustment, chronic statin therapy was associated with a lower incidence of CIN (odds ratio [OR], 0.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.05-0.94; P=.04). Acute heart failure on admission and the urgency of the procedure (urgent vs elective PCI) were also independent predictors for developing CIN (OR, 3.04; 95% CI, 1.45-6.66 [P=.01] and OR, 2.80; 95% CI, 1.42-5.55 [P=.01], respectively). Long-term mortality rates were similar between those on chronic statin therapy and those not on statins.
Conclusion: CIN occurred in 4.5% of patients following non-emergent PCI. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that chronic statin therapy decreased the odds of developing CIN in patients undergoing PCI.