Effect of Statins on Circulating CoQ10 Levels
Statins have been known to re- duce circulating CoQ10 levels in animal models (11) and humans (12) since at least 1990. Since that time and with rare exceptions (13,14) at least 9 observational studies (12,13,15–23) and 6 randomized controlled trials (7,24 –28) have demonstrated that statins reduce plasma/serum levels of CoQ10 16% to 54% (Table 1). The largest trial (25) included 1,049 patients and noted reductions in plasma CoQ10 levels of 38% and 27% after treatment with atorva- statin 10 mg/day to 20 mg/day or lovastatin 20 mg/day to 40 mg/day, respectively. The decrease in blood CoQ10 levels with statin treatment is probably due to reductions in lower-density lipoproteins. Coenzyme Q10 is transported in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (58 10% of serum