An assessment of the efficacy of atorvastatin in treating patients with dyslipidemia to target LDL cholesterol goals: The Atorvastatin Matrix Study.

To investigate the ability of atorvastatin at various doses, to enable patients with, or at risk of CHD, to enable LDL-cholesterol target levels.

Non-comparative multicenter study.

531 patients with either a fasting total cholesterol of >200 mg/dl and fasting triglyceride level up to 400 mg/dl while on current medications, or when current medication was not well tolerated.

12 weeks

Atorvastatin 10, 20 or 80 mg daily. Dose was determined by assignment of risk, based on entry level cholesterol levels and the presence of other established CHD risk factors.

The study demonstrates that atorvastatin is effective in achieving target lipid levels in a large proportion of patients and the dose required can be predicted by an assessment of the patient's risk profile.