PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Igor Karp AU - Shun-Fu Chen AU - Louise Pilote TI - Sex differences in the effectiveness of statins after myocardial infarction AID - 10.1503/cmaj.060627 DP - 2007 Jan 30 TA - Canadian Medical Association Journal PG - 333--338 VI - 176 IP - 3 4099 - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/176/3/333.short 4100 - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/176/3/333.full SO - CMAJ2007 Jan 30; 176 AB - Background: We sought to investigate the sex differences in the effectiveness of statins in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: Linking hospital discharge and drug claims databases from Quebec, Canada (1998–2004), we identified statin users (n = 14 710) and non-users (n = 23 833) discharged from hospital after an AMI-related hospital stay and followed up for as long as 7 years. Results: All-cause death rates were 4.1 and 14.6 per 100 person-years among users and non-users, respectively, whereas cardiac death rates were 2.2 and 7.4 per 100 person-years. For death from any cause, the adjusted hazard ratios associated with statin use in women were 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54–0.69) within 1 year of follow-up, 0.55 (0.48–0.63) at 1–3 years and 0.38 (0.31–0.49) at > 3 years; in men, the corresponding estimates were 0.54 (0.48–0.60), 0.48 (0.42–0.55) and 0.34 (0.30–0.39). For cardiac-related death, the adjusted hazard ratios associated with statin use in women were 0.70 (0.60–0.81) within 1 year, 0.56 (0.46–0.68) at 1–3 years and 0.44 (0.31–0.62) at > 3 years of follow-up, whereas in men, the estimates were 0.59 (0.51–0.69), 0.47 (0.39–0.58) and 0.37 (0.30–0.45), respectively. Interpretation: Statin therapy after an AMI was associated with reduced rates of all-cause and cardiac mortality. The effect increased with time in both sexes, but the degree of risk reduction was less for women than for men.