Hypercholesterolaemia is an important modifiable risk feature for cardiovascular disease in both men and women. Compared to men, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels are found to be usually lower in women until menopause, when levels escalate (from a mean of 117 mg/dL to 145 mg/dL), and particles of LDL tend to become more atherogenic. The amount of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is about 10 mg/dL higher in women than in men. Low levels of HDL are more predictive of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women when compared to men, particularly in women aged 65 years or more. Moreover, elevated triglycerides may be a more critical risk factor in women (especially older women) compared with men, and, for both sexes, elevated non-HDL-C is regarded as a risk marker for CHD, particularly in patients affected with hypertriglyceridaemia.

Several guidelines recommend the administration of statins as a first-line treatment for lowering cholesterol when diet modifications and exercise are insufficient to treat hypercholesterolaemia.

A clinical study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia.

Treatment with statin produced a dose-dependent reduction in the levels of LDL-C at six weeks; the level of decrease was dependent on the type of statin and dose used.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC)/ American Heart Association (AHA) recommendations on stain intensity:

Intensity	Statin dose
High	Rosuvastatin 20–40 mg
Atorvastatin 40-80 mg
Moderate	Rosuvastatin 5–10 mg
Atorvastatin 10-20 mg

Efficacy: 

Results of this clinical study indicated that Rosuvastatin 20 mg produced statistically greater reductions in LDL-C when compared with 20 mg and 40 mg of Atorvastatin. Moreover, 40 mg of Rosuvastatin also produced a statistically more significant lowering in LDL-C compared with 40 mg of Atorvastatin.

Rosuvastatin 20 mg reduced non-HDL-C significantly more than milligram-equivalent doses of Atorvastatin. Similarly, Rosuvastatin 20 mg and 40 mg induced HDL-C in a significant amount in comparison to milligram-equivalent or higher doses of Atorvastatin.

Safety:

All treatments were found to be well tolerated in general, with the same safety profiles across treatments and dose ranges