According to new research, thousands of lives could be saved by combining statins with another cholesterol -lowering medicine.
The greatest analysis to investigate the best way to lower the levels of 'bad' cholesterol in patients with blocked arteries shows that they should immediately get a combination of a statin and another medicine, called Ezetimibe, rather than just statins.
The combination therapy should be considered as the 'gold standard' of treatment for patients who have already had a heart attack and can prevent thousands of deaths every year, scientists say.
Researchers analyzed the findings of 14 previous studies with 108,353 patients who had a 'very high' risk of a heart attack or stroke, or who had already suffered one of the other.
According to new research, thousands of lives could be saved by combining statins with another cholesterol -lowering medicine
New research has shown that the best way to reduce levels of poor cholesterol in patients with blocked arteries is to treat them with a combination of statin and ezetimibe
The study, published in the magazine Mayo Clinic Proceedings, showed that when Ezetimibe was combined with a high dose statin to reduce lipoprotein cholesterol levels (LDL-C), there was a 'significant' 19 percent reduction of the risk of death.
There was also a reduction of 16 percent in deaths due to cardiovascular causes, and a 'significant' reduction in the most important adverse cardiovascular events or strokes with 18 percent and 17 percent respectively, compared to high doses of statins.
Study author Professor Peter Toth, from the University of Illinois in the US, said: “This study confirms that combined cholesterol reduction therapy should be considered immediately and the gold standard should be for the treatment of very risky patients after an acute cardiovascular event.”
