AHA: IMPROVE-IT Proves Ezetimibe Benefit

Published: Nov 17, 2014 | Updated: Nov 18, 2014

By Peggy Peck, Editor-in-Chief, MedPage Today

Reviewed by F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE; Assistant Professor, Section of Nephrology, Yale School of Medicine and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

save

|

A

A

Discussant: Harlan Krumholz, MD
Click here for more On the Scene video coverage.

Action Points

• Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Note that this large, randomized trial found that the addition of ezetimibe to simvastatin decreased the rate of cardiovascular events by a small, but statistically significant amount.
• Be aware that the effect size might have been larger were it not for the high rate of study drug discontinuation.

CHICAGO -- In high-risk patients, adding ezetimibe to statin therapy reduced LDL cholesterol by an average of 17 mg/dL and reduced cardiovascular events compared with statin therapy alone.

That finding from the 18,000-patient IMPROVE-IT trial marks the first time that adding a nonstatin lipid-lowering therapy to a statin demonstrated a clinical benefit, Christopher Cannon, MD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, toldMedPage Today.

Completo aquí: http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AHA/48637?isalert=1&uun=g419731d2883R5519153u&utm_source=breaking-news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-news&xid=NL_breakingnews_2014-12-06