A Population-Based Study of Simvastatin Drug-Drug Interactions in Cardiovascular Disease Patients

Abstract

Simvastatin is a commonly used medication for lipid management and cardiovascular disease, however, the risk of adverse events (AEs) with its use increases via drug-drug interaction (DDI) exposures. Patients were extracted if initially diagnosed with cardiovascular disease and newly initiated simvastatin therapy. The cohort was divided into a DDI-exposed group and a non-DDI exposed group. The DDI-exposed group was further divided into gemfibrozil, clarithromycin, and erythromycin exposure groups. The outcome was defined as a composite of predefined AEs. Our results show that the simvastatin-DDI group had a higher illness burden with longer simvastatin exposure time and more medical care follow-up compared with the simvastatin-non-DDI exposed group. AEs occurred more frequently in subjects exposed to interacting drugs with a higher risk for clarithromycin and erythromycin exposed subjects than for gemfibrozil subjects.