High cholesterol is a leading cause of death worldwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease. A recent study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggests that combining two cholesterol-lowering medications, statins and ezetimibe, may be more effective than using statins alone.
Statins are a common treatment for high cholesterol, but they can have side effects. Ezetimibe, on the other hand, works by blocking the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine. Researchers believe that combining these two medications could lead to significant improvements in cardiovascular health.
A comprehensive meta-analysis involving 108,353 high-risk heart attack and stroke patients found that combination therapy reduced cardiovascular events and cholesterol-related deaths by 49 percent. This is a significant reduction compared to statin-only therapy.
The study’s results showed that the combination of statins and ezetimibe led to:
– A 19% decrease in overall death
– A 16% decrease in cardiovascular-related death
– An 18% decrease in major cardiovascular events, including stroke
– An 13 mg/dL decrease in LDL-C levels
This new treatment approach may be a game-changer for high-risk patients with poor LDL-C levels. The study’s lead author notes that the results confirm combined cholesterol lowering therapy should be considered immediately and should be the gold standard for treatment of very high-risk patients after an acute cardiovascular event.
The best part? This approach doesn’t require additional funding or reimbursement of new expensive drugs. Instead, it may translate into lower rates of first and subsequent heart attacks and stroke, and their complications like heart failure, which are extremely costly for all healthcare systems.
Source: https://bestlifeonline.com/statins-and-ezetimibe