Additional KIF6 Risk Offers Better Adherence to Statins

Many patients prescribed statins to lower their cholesterol stop taking their statin over time. The purpose of this study is to determine whether providing subjects their KIF6 carrier status (associated with increased cardiovascular event risk) will improve adherence to statin medications.

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) remains a significant problem in the US, causing about 1 of every 5 deaths in 2005. In 2009, approximately 1.3 million Americans will have a new/recurrent myocardial infarction. Coronary heart disease (CHD) includes myocardial infarction, stable or unstable angina, demonstrated myocardial ischemia detected by noninvasive testing, and a history of coronary artery procedures (such a stent or bypass). Currently, "statins" are recommended by the AHA to manage elevated low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C). Unfortunately, the discontinuation of statins is quite substantial. For example, a large cohort study of older patients found that 2-year statin adherence rates were approximately 40% for acute coronary syndrome patients, 36% for chronic coronary artery disease, and 25% for primary prevention and is associated with increased mortality, hospitalizations, and costs. Recently, the kinesin 6 (KIF6) gene has been associated with a 30-55% increase in cardiovascular events in individuals carrying one or two risk variants (\~57% of the white population) in multiple prospective studies. Furthermore, KIF6 carriers receiving a "statin" have a substantial greater cardiovascular risk reduction (-34 to 50%) when using a "statin" compared to those that are non-carriers using a statin (6 to 20%). In this prospective, open label, trial, recruited subjects recently started on statin therapy will be provided information about their KIF6 carrier status and followed for 6 months to determine their "statin" adherence. Additionally, quality of life and factors adherence will be measured at baseline and after 6 months. Finally, pharmacy records will be evaluated for up to 1-year to determine statin discontinuation rates.