Optimal Timing for Statin Dosage: Understanding Evening Administration

For years doctors have directed their patients to take HMG-CoA reductace inhibitors--or statins--at night. This evening dosage time is often inconvenient or physically unsettling for many who take the medication.

Significance

• Statins are the No. 1 line of treatment for patients with coronary issues and offer substantial reductions in mortality rates.

Function

• Statins are HMG-CoA reductace inhibitors and the most powerful drug available to lower LDL cholesterol.

Theories/Speculation

• LDL enzymes are higher at night while may statins have half-lives (some as low as six hours) of effectiveness. Taking them at night inhibits the enzyme during its most active phase and may be more effective in lowering cholesterol.

Misconceptions

• Not all statins have short pharmacodynamic properties and some may achieve equal LDL effects when taken in the morning.

Prevention/Solution

• Statins such as Rosuvastatin and Atorvastatin have signficantly longer half-lives (19 and 14 hours) and may not be hindered by morning administration.

Considerations

• Clinical studies done with simvastatin showed that evening administration resulted in a 21 percent reduction of LDL cholesterol while morning administration only garnered a 15 percent reduction.