BMJ  2003;327 (4 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7418.0-d

Simvastatin should be taken at night

Simvastatin is best taken at night, when concentrations of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein may be at their greatest. Wallace and colleagues (p 788) randomised 60 patients who had been taking simvastatin at night to take it either in the morning or at night and compared the change in their blood lipid profiles after eight weeks. Switching to taking simvastatin in the morning significantly increased total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein. Compliance did not differ between the two groups, the authors say.

Credit: COLIN GRAY/PHOTONICA

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Taking simvastatin in the morning compared with in the evening: randomised controlled trial

Alan Wallace, David Chinn, and Greg Rubin
BMJ 2003 327: 788. [Full Text] [PDF]