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Which statin is better?

Is atorvastatin or pravastatin better at monitoring cholestoral?  My doctor prescribed the generic pravastatin as a more afordable alternative to atorvastatin but also doubled the amount I take (from 20 mg of atorvastatin to 40 mg of pravastatin).  Should I be concerned about the effectiveness of pravastatin?
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592969 tn?1248325405
Everyone is different with different medications. Lipitor has helped reduce cholesterol in our family.  If you are worried, get your blood work done after a certain length of time to make sure that the LDL numbers are going down.  Another good way to drop LDL levels is to eliminate red meat from your diet if you haven't already done so.  Mine dropped tremendously from 129 to 79 for LDL in a years time.  
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159619 tn?1707018272
COMMUNITY LEADER
Both pretrty much the same thing. These are generics for Lipitor and Pravachol, both very affectve. Below are the results of a study that was recently done;

"With so many statins available for clinical use in coronary artery syndromes, there has been much discussion about which is the best. Two recent trials have compared the clinical outcomes of intensive lipid lowering with atorvastatin 80 mg/day and standard lowering with pravastatin 40 mg/day. In the Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy (PROVE IT) trial, patients with acute coronary artery syndromes were enrolled, and pravastatin lowered the low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol to 2.46 mmol/l, whereas atorvastatin lowered it to 1.60 mmol/l. Associated with this, there was a lower rate of clinical events (myocardial infarction, revascularisation) over 2 years with atorvastatin than pravastatin (22.4 versus 26.3%, respectively). The Reversal of Atherosclerosis with Aggressive Lipid Lowering (REVERSAL) trial also enrolled patients requiring angiography, and pravastatin lowered the LDL-cholesterol to 2.84 mmol/l, whereas atorvastatin lowered the LDL-cholesterol to 2.04 mmol/l. In the REVERSAL trial, atheroma volume progressed with pravastatin by 2.7% whilst remaining stable in the atorvastatin group (-0.4%) over 18 months. Thus, atorvastatin 80 mg/day causes a greater reduction in LDL-cholesterol than pravastatin 40 mg/day, and this is associated with a reduced progression of atheroma and reduced clinical events. As a consequence of these findings, the National Cholesterol Education Programme and European guidelines for LDL-cholesterol levels should be lowered."

Hope this helps,

Jon
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