Background: The aim of this study was to compare and summarize the lipid-altering effects of combination therapy with ezetimibe and statins (E/S) and a double dose of statin (D/S) monotherapy on patients with hypercholesterolemia. Methods: We conducted search on 2 medical databases, PubMed and EMBASE to identify all relevant studies. A meta-analysis was performed to clarify the efficacy in the two groups. Only double-blind Randomized controlled study (RCTs) of efficacy evaluation in the two groups with ezetimibe and statins and a double dose of statin in participants with hypercholesterolemia that examined low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were included. Two reviewers extracted data from all primary studies independently. The primary data were the level of LDL-C, TC and HDL-C concentrations at the end point and are expressed as mean and standard deviation (SD). Results: A total of 11 double-blind, active or placebo-controlled studies with 1926 hypercholesterolemia adults randomized to ezetimibe 10 mg added to ongoing statins (N = 994) or statin titration (doubling) (N = 932) were pooled for the global meta-analysis. The effect size between treatment groups within individual studies was assessed by weighted mean difference (MD) using a random-or fixed-effect model. The result showed that the participants in E/S group get obvious lower LDL-C [MD =-13.14 mg/dL, 95%CI (−16.83,-9.44), p = 0.00001] and TC concentration [MD =-23.79 mg/dL, 95%CI (−38.65,-8.93), p = 0.002] from baseline to follow-up, comparing to the D/ S group. Besides, no significant between-group differences were observed for concentrations of HDL-C [MD = 0.46 mg/dL, 95%CI (− 1.14, 2.06), p = 0.57]. According to subgroup analysis, the combination of ezetimibe and atorvastatin (10 mg) [MD =-16.98 mg/dL, p < 0 .0001] or simvastatin (20 mg) [MD =-17.35 mg/dL, p < 0 .0001] showed stronger ability of reducing LDL-C than combination of ezetimibe and rosuvastatin (10 mg) [MD =-9.29 mg/dL, p = 0.05]. The efficacy of short-term (endpoint time between 6 to 16 week) and long-term (52 week) treatment in the LDL-C between two groups did not show significant differences. Besides, only participants from Asia treated with combination therapy were associated with a significant lower LDL-C concentration [MD =-14.7 mg/dL, p < 0 .0001].

High counts of LVD, not MVD, are associated with worse 5-year overall survival (OS) in patients with HNSCC.

No abstract