There are several limitations to our study. First, this was
a post-hoc individual level reanalysis of pooled CORONA and
GISSI-HF data. However, we evaluated pre-specified endpoints
and maintained intention-to-treat randomization status in our
pooled individual-level analyses. Second, our finding that participants
with an ischaemic aetiology of heart failure experience a
significant reduction in MI incidence with rosuvastatin relies on
investigator designations to determine the aetiology of heart failure.
The CORONA and GISSI-HF populations are also different:
the CORONA population was older and sicker by design than the
GISSI-HF population. Furthermore, although the reduction in risk
for MI with rosuvastatin was statistically significant in our pooled
analysis of patients with ischaemic heart failure, the absolute risk
reduction was relatively low in the context of risks for other competing
causes of death such as death caused by arrhythmia, worsening
heart failure, and non-cardiovascular causes. Despite these limitations and the relatively small absolute risk reduction with
rosuvastatin, this reanalysis demonstrated a statistically significant
reduction in MI among patients with ischaemic aetiologies of systolic
heart failure.