Clinical Characteristics of Liver Injury Induced by Atorvastatin

Background Drug-induced liver injury is one of the most common adverse drug reactions, and atorvastatin is one of the widely used statin lipid-lowering drugs in clinical practice, which is susceptible to hepatic injury. Currently, there is limited research data on the clinical characteristics of liver injury induced by atorvastatin. Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of liver injury induced by atorvastatin, so as to improve clinicians' understanding of liver injury induced by atorvastation. Methods The patients who were hospitalized and treated with atorvastatin in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from January 2012 to August 2022, developed liver injury and were evaluated as liver injury induced by atorvastation based on Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method were selected, and analyzed on clinical characteristics. Results A total of 84 cases of liver injury induced by atorvastation were diagnosed by Causality Assessment Method. The patients with liver injury induced by atorvastation were more male (72.6%), with an average age of (60.2±11.5) years, and all of them were comorbid with the underlying diseases (100.0%) ; two cases (2.4%) reached moderate liver injury, and the cure or improvement rate after treatment reached 100.0%. According to the stage of the disease, the main manifestation was an acute course (100.0%) ; according to the damaged target cells, the mixed type was the most frequent (60.7%), followed by the cholestasis type (26.2%) and the hepatocyte type (11.9%). The statistical results showed that 78.6% of the patients with liver injury occurred within 3 months after taking atorvastation and predominantly in the 1st to 2nd week; and 81.0% of the patients developed liver injuryat 80 defined daily dose (DDD) of cumulative atorvastation. Conclusion Liver injury induced by atorvastation occurs mostly in male, middle-aged and elderly patients patients with underlying diseases, mostly have mild liver injury and good prognosis, and the clinical types were mostly mixed type and cholestasis type. Liver injury occurs mainly within 3 months and the occurrence of liver injury induced by atorvastation was dose-dependent.