Evaluation of the Effects of Simvastatin 40mg

This is an open-label, prospective study to investigate lipid-lowering efficacy and sympathetic response of normotensive hypercholesterolemia patients after receiving simvastatin 40 mg once daily for 3 months.

The total duration of the study will be approximately 13 weeks, comprising of a 1-week (or 4 weeks?) screening period and a 12-week active treatment period. 20 hypercholesterolemia patients with normal blood pressure will be enrolled into treatment group.

Inclusion criteria

• Male or female patient, >18 years of age
• Patients with hypercholesterolemia who meet the following lipid criteria:

• primary cholesterolemia: total cholesterol>=240 mg/dl or ldl-c >= 160 mg/dl
• secondary cholesterolemia (patients with cad, dm): ldl-c>=130 mg/dl
• The patient is willing to follow an NCEP therapeutic lifestyle changes (tlc) or similar cholesterol-lowering diet throughout the duration of the study

Exclusion criteria

• Congestive heart failure (NYHA class III or IV), uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia, unstable angina
• Hypertension (based on the atp 3 guidelines)
• Taking potent lipid-lowering agents
• Unstable diabetes (hba1c >9%) or newly diagnosed (within 3 months), or a change in anti-diabetes medications within 3 months of screening