Objective To systematically assess the effectiveness and safety of atorvastatin in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) complicating chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods Databases including PubMed, The Cochrane Library, EMbase, CNKI, CBM, and VIP were searched from inception to November 2011 to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on atorvastatin for DCM accompanied with CHF. According to the inclusion criterion, relevant articles were screened. Then we extracted data, assessed quality, and performed meta-analysis using RevMan 5.0. Results A total of 11 RCTs involving 648 patients were included. The result of meta-analyses showed that compared with the control group at the sixth month after treatment, in the atorvastatin group, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) obviously (MD=3.92, 95%CI 1.93 to 5.92, P=0.000 1) and 6-minute walk distance (MD=13.15, 95%CI 5.47 to 20.83, P=0.000 8) increased. Besides, serum level of CRP obviously decreased in the atorvastatin group (MD=1.91, 95%CI 3.03 to 0.79, P=0.000 9). Conclusion Current evidence indicates that atorvastatin, based on routine treatment, can improve cardiac function to some extent, increase LVEF, and reduce serum levels of inflammatory markers for patients with DCM complicating CHF. Therefore, atorvastatin is likely to be a safe and effective drug for non-ischemic cardiomyopathy due to DCM, which still has to be proved by more large-scale and high-quality clinical trials.
