Safe use of ezetimibe plus simvastatin in high-risk vascular patients (with chronic kidney disease and PAD).

摘要

The use of ezetimibe together with a statin to reduce LDL cholesterol in high-risk patients in whom raising the statin dose is not desirable has been shown to be safe in the SHARP trial and in a trial on a small group of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients. The SHARP study (9 270 patients) has shown that patients with chronic kidney disease who take simvastatin (20 mg) plus ezetimibe (10 mg) would typically reduce their risk of non-fatal atherosclerotic events by about a quarter (17%, CI: 0.74-0.94). This study provides new evidence for this group of patients as they are typically excluded from statin and cardiovascular outcome trials. Importantly, there was no increase in cancer rates or myopa-thy in the ezetimibe-treated patients followed for a mean period of 4.9 years.