Vascular inflammation is a better predictor of future cardiovascular events and death than LDL cholesterol in patients on statin therapy, US doctors report. 

Their meta-analysis of three large clinical trials also suggests the risk of adverse outcomes is higher in those with high-sensitivity CRP ≥2mg/L regardless of atherogenic lipid levels. 

“We believe that combined use of aggressive lipid-lowering and anti-inflammatory therapies might become the standard of care for atherosclerotic disease in the future,” the authors concluded in The Lancet. 

The study cohort included more than 31,000 adults with, or at high risk of, cardiovascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy; more than two-thirds also had type 2 diabetes.