Low-Dose Colchicine Effective in CVD

A randomized, double-blind trial in Canada concluded that among patients with a recent myocardial infarction (MI), colchicine at a dose of 0.5 mg daily led to a significantly lower risk of ischemic cardiovascular events than placebo.A total of 4745 patients within 30 days after a MI were randomly assigned to receive either low-dose colchicine (0.5 mg once daily, n=2366) or placebo (n=2379). During a median follow-up of 22.6 months, the primary end point (a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, resuscitated cardiac arrest, MI, stroke, or urgent hospitalization for angina leading to coronary revascularization) occurred in 5.5% of the patients in the colchicine group, as compared with 7.1% of those in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.77). The HRs were 0.84, 0.83, 0.91, 0.26, and 0.5, respectively, for death from cardiovascular causes, resuscitated cardiac arrest, MI, stroke, and urgent hospitalization for angina leading to coronary revascularization. Diarrhea was reported in 9.7% and 8.9% of the patients in the colchicine and the placebo group, respectively. Pneumonia was reported as a serious adverse event in 0.9% and 0.4% of the patients in the colchicine and the placebo group, respectively. The results suggest that colchicine is effective and safe for patients with a recent MI in addition to gout and pericarditis. Source: https://www.nejm.org/