Recently the skeptical cardiologist was asked by Ilene, a reader with an HDL almost as high as her LDL and a history of branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) whether she should take the statin her cardiologist had prescribed.
I enjoy reading your articles and would appreciate your opinion on my situation. I recently took a lipid panel blood test: total cholesterol: 244 HDL:112 LDL:121 VLDL:11 CRP: 1.77 Triglycerides: 57. Also my Cardiac Agatston score is 21. I had a Branch Retinol Vein Occlusion a year ago in my left eye (it’s healing beautifully) and as a precaution am now taking Amlodipine 5mg daily (my blood pressure was never too high to begin with) along with a daily baby aspirin.I am otherwise a healthy 72 year old woman, exercise and eat healthy.My regular doctor (Integrative MD) says my cholesterol ratio is wonderful….my cardiologist wants me to take a statin (Atorvastatin) in a low dose. The ONLY med I take is Amlodipine and I am not one to be taking a plethora of meds for the rest of my life (unless “absolutely” necessary. What is your suggestion…take a statin or not.
While I can’t provide medical advice to Ilene specifically it is worthwhile to ponder the general aspects of her case and how I would approach it as it likely applies to thousands of other patients including many of my own.
In my mind there are two questions here: 1) Should Ilene and patients like her take a statin to prevent future heart attacks and strokes and 2) Do statins effect the Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion (BRVO)?
Although I’m not a fan of integrative or functional medicine Ilene’s integrative MD is correct in saying that her ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol is wonderful. Perhaps that high HDL is protecting her from a build-up of atherosclerotic plaque.
On the other hand, Ilene tells me that “My father did have a heart attack in his 60’s”. Perhaps she inherited something from him that puts her in a higher than average risk category.
With the information from the CAC we don’t have to guess about the influence of the high HDL and the family history of CAD. Her score is at the 48th percentile, slightly below average for white women her age, thus it would appear she is not destined for her father’s fate.
Frequent readers of skepcard (especially my posts on statin fence sitters) will know I plug all these numbers (preferably with the calcium score available) into the MESA coronary calcium risk calculator
In this case, the CAC score does not significantly alter our risk estimate as it is so close to the average for her age
Even if we count her as having hypertension because she is on the amlodipine her 10 year risk of heart attack and stroke is low at 3.2%.
Guidelines don’t recommend statin treatment unless risk is >7.5%.
Also, note that I answered yes to “Family history heart disease” but most studies generally only consider this a risk factor if father had heart attack prior to age 55 years. If we make that a no the risk drops to <3%.
Now that we’ve answered Ilene’s real question let’s see if the BRVO warrants statin therapy.
Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion
BRVO is the blockage of a vein from the retina and the second most
common cause of vision loss from retinal vascular disease, following diabetic retinopathy. It typically results in the painless loss of vision in one portion of one eye due to hemorrhage and edema in the retina.
common cause of vision loss from retinal vascular disease, following diabetic retinopathy. It typically results in the painless loss of vision in one portion of one eye due to hemorrhage and edema in the retina.
A reasonable summary of BRVO provided by the American Academy of Ophthalmology can be found here.
BRVO is not clearly related to atherosclerosis or hyperlipidemia and there is no evidence that taking a statin would prevent recurrence or help the condition.
The leading theory for what causes BRVO is that the more delicate and distensible retinal veins are squished or compressed at points where the stiffer and thicker retinal arteries cross them. Up to Date notes:
Whereas branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) appears to be related to compression of the branch vein by retinal arterioles at the arteriovenous crossing points, central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) is usually associated with primary thrombus formation.
Although BRVO is more common in patients with hypertension and atherosclerosis it is not clear that one causes the other or that treatment of hypertension or atherosclerosis diminishes the risk of BRVO. So statins are not recommended.
More Questions
Every patient case for me leads to more questions, more investigations and more knowledge. Here are some questions that occurred to me from ilene’s case.
-Why would someone with no symptoms and no heart problems be seeing a cardiologist?
(“I started seeing a cardiologist just to make sure all systems were “go” and stayed that way!… we take care of our cars so why not my body. )
I kind of like this answer and I definitely see lots of patients with that philosophy but if we extrapolate the car analogy: going to a cardiologist would be like taking your car to a mechanic who only works on engines or perhaps one specific part of the engine (help me out here people who know about cars.)
-Why was Ilene unwilling to take a statin? (I pretty much know the answer to this (see here) for most patients.
‘m just afraid of the horrible muscle related side effects of statin drugs…and that’s why I’m taking Berberine 500mg twice a day.
Yep. I feel a post abut Berberine may be in the works!
-Finally, should a 72 year old with a CAC score of 21 and BRVO be taking a baby aspirin?
I’ve generally advocated aspirin in primary prevention for scores >100 so wouldn’t advise it for prevention of cardiovascular events in this situation.
In addition, I have seen nothing in the literature that recommends aspirin for BRVO. These two BRVO experts do not recommend either aspirin or anticoagulants.
Proretinally Yours,
-ACP
N.B. If you have a blockage of the the artery that supplies blood to the retina or a branch retinal artery occlusion ( BRAO)
you might benefit from a statin as this is often caused by a clot or plaque flying out of the heart or the carotid artery.