Association Between the Intensity of Statin Therapy and Physical Activity 1 Year After Acute Coronary Syndrome: a Multicentre Prospective Cohort Study in Switzerland

Overview

Journal BMJ Open

Date 2025 Jan 17

PMID 39819911

Authors

Alex Boudon

Isabella Locatelli

Baris Gencer

David Carballo

Roland Klingenberg

Lorenz Raber

Stephan Windecker

Nicolas Rodondi

Thomas Luscher

Christian M Matter

Francois Mach

Olivier Muller

David Nanchen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the association between the intensity of statin therapy and the level of physical activity in patients 1 year after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Design: Prospective cohort study from the Special Program University Medicine-Acute Coronary Syndromes.

Setting: Four university hospital centres in Switzerland.

Participants: 2274 patients with a main diagnosis of ACS between 2009 and 2017 who were available for a 1-year follow-up visit 1 year after hospital discharge.

Outcome Measures: Self-reported physical activity was assessed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The level of physical activity in metabolic equivalent-minutes per week (MET-min/week) was first stratified into sedentary and physically active categories and then analysed continuously among physically active patients. Analyses were performed using a propensity score weighting approach.

Results: One year after ACS, 1222 (53.7%) patients were on high-intensity statin therapy, 890 (39.1%) were on low/moderate-intensity statin therapy and 162 (7.1%) were not on statin therapy. Compared with non-statin users, low-/moderate-intensity statin users and high-intensity statin users were more likely to be physically active than sedentary, with a fully adjusted OR of 2.86 (95% CI 1.12 to 7.26) and 4.52 (95% CI 1.68 to 12.20), respectively. Among physically active patients, physical activity level was similar across all statin user categories, with median levels of 2792.5, 2712.0 and 2839.5 MET-min/week in non-statin, moderate/low-statin and high-statin users, respectively (p=0.307).

Conclusions: One year after ACS, neither low-/moderate-intensity nor high-intensity statin uses were associated with reduced self-reported physical activity compared with non-statin use. The concern that statin therapy may impair physical activity among ACS patients was not confirmed in this study.

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