¹ Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
² Northwest Cardiovascular Institute, Portland, OR, USA
³ Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
⁴ Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
⁵ University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

Correspondence to:
Professor N K Wenger, Emory University School of Medicine, 49 Jesse Hill Jr Drive, SE Atlanta, GA 30303, USA; nwenger{at}emory.edu

Objective: To examine by secondary analysis of the Treating to New Targets (TNT) study whether the benefits of intensive versus standard levels of lipid lowering are equally applicable to women.

Methods: A total of 10 001 patients (1902 women) with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) were randomised to double-blind treatment with atorvastatin 10 or 80 mg/day for a median follow-up of 4.9 years.

Results: In women and men, intensive treatment with atorvastatin 80 mg significantly reduced the rate of major cardiovascular events compared with atorvastatin 10 mg. Among women, the relative and absolute reductions were 27% and 2.7%, respectively (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.54 to 1.00, p = 0.049). In men, the corresponding rate reductions were 21% and 2.2% (HR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.91, p = 0.001). The number needed to treat value (to prevent one cardiovascular event over 4.9 years compared with patients treated with atorvastatin 10 mg) for atorvastatin 80 mg was 29 for women and 30 for men. Rates of death of non-cardiovascular origin in the atorvastatin 80 mg and atorvastatin 10 mg were 3.6% and 1.6%, respectively (p = 0.004) among women, and 2.8% and 3.1% (p = 0.47) among men.

Conclusion: Intensive lipid-lowering treatment with atorvastatin 80 mg produced significant reductions in relative risk for major cardiovascular events compared with atorvastatin 10 mg in both women and men with stable CHD.