Aernoud Fiolet

240 Chapter 9 Table 1: Baseline characteristics. Characteristic n=138 Demographics Age, years Mean (SD) 65.1 (9.4) Male 113 (81.9%) Smoker Active smoker 19 (13.8%) Former smoker 88 (63.8%) BMI, kg/m² Mean (SD) 28.7 (4.3) Cardiovascular medical history Hypertension 80 (58.0%) Diabetes 27 (19.6%) Diabetes on insulin 11 (8.0%) Prior acute coronary syndrome 115 (83.3%) Time since last acute coronary syndrome, months Median (IQR) 22.8 (9.3 - 75.8) Prior percutaneous coronary stenting 124 (89.9%) Left ventricular ejectionfraction, % Mean (SD) 54.1 (9.9) Cardiovascular drug use Dual antiplatelet therapy 57 (41.3%) Any antiplatelet therapy or oral anticoagulants 138 (100.0%) Betablocker or calciumchannelblocker 108 (78.3%) ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers 93 (67.4%) Any of the above mentioned anti-hypertensives 125 (90.58%) Statin 121 (87.7%) High dose statin 71 (58.7%) Any lipid lowering drug: 132 (95.7%) Statin intensity was categorized in accordance with the guidelines of the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, and high dose statin was defined as a atorvastatin 40mg or 80mg dose equivalent. 19 Abbreviations: ACE, angiotensin converting enzyme; BMI, body mass index; IQR, inter quartile range; kg, kilogram; SD, standard deviation. Inflammatory biomarkers Median baseline hs-CRP was 4.40 mg/L (IQR 2.83–6.99 mg/L). After one month hs-CRP was 2.33 mg/L (IQR 1.41–4.17, median of the differences -1.66 mg/L, 95%CI -2.17 –-1.22 mg/L, p-value <0.01, Fig 2) corresponding to a median change from baseline of -40% (Table 2, Fig 3A). In 81% of patients hs-CRP decreased, with 36% of patients reaching a hs-CRP <2 (Fig 3B).