Could this anti-inflammatory prevent heart attacks?

Colchicine is an anti-inflammatory drug which we commonly used for treatment of conditions like gout and pericarditis. Given its anti-inflammatory effects, scientists have started questioning where it may reduce inflammation in patients with heart disease and therefore may prevent future events in such patients.

There are some promising data I would like to share with you.

There was a study called COLCOT.
In this study over 4700 patients who had had a heart attack in the prior 30 days were randomly assigned to receive Coclchicine 0.5mg daily or placebo 2 weeks after the heart attack. At the end of 2 years the colchicine group were found to have a significantly lower event rate - By events, I mean a combination of cardiac death, heart attacks, strokes, and hospitalisation for angina). The main benefits were seen in lower rates of stroke and angina. However as there was about 18% of patients who discontinued the meds before the end of the study, the results of the study did not really have any practice-altering consequences. Nevertheless it stoked an interest in more research into this agent.

Only recently however there has been a most interesting study which was published in the New England journal of medicine called LODOCO2 study. In this study investigators were interested in looking at patients with chronic coronary disease (as opposed to patients who had had a recent heart attack in the COLCOT study) and they assigned 2762 patients with chronic heart disease to 0.5 mg daily of colchicine and 2760 patients to placebo and they found that after a median time of 28.6 months, an event (heart attack, stroke, need for stents) had occurred in 187 patients (6.8%) in the colchicine group and 264 patients (9.6%) in the placebo group. They also found that patients in general tolerated the colchicine well apart from perhaps more muscle aches in some patients.

Видео Could this anti-inflammatory prevent heart attacks? канала York Cardiology