Hair analysis as a new tool to monitor adherence to long-term therapy to statins.

Statins are cholesterol-lowering medications which are widely prescribed as first line treatment for hyperlipidemia, against high blood cholesterol aimed at reducing the risk of atherosclerotic diseases. Notwithstanding their undoubted efficacy, the needed long-term treatment with these drugs is characterized by a high percentage of drop-out. Consequently, an effective tool to verify the patients' compliance to statin therapy is needed. In this context, the analysis for drugs and drug metabolites in the hair may represent an almost ideal tool since, according to a sound body of forensic toxicological literature, concentrations in the hair matrix reflect the chronic intake of drugs and pharmaceuticals. In this light, in the present study, a novel, specific and sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method has been developed to determine six statins and their metabolites (namely atorvastatin, (p)α-OH-atorvastatin-lactone, (o)α-OH-atorvastatin-lactone, rosuvastatin, N-desmethyl-rosuvastatin and pravastatin) in human hair. After optimization, the method was successfully validated in terms of selectivity, linearity, sensitivity, precision, accuracy, stability and matrix effect. Moreover, the practical applicability of this method for verifying adherence to statin therapy was assessed by testing samples of hair collected from subjects under long-term therapy with statins. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.