Adjuvant Therapy for Incremental Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Reduction With Ezetimibe

Abstract

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the major cause of premature death in developing countries, even though CVD mortality has fallen considerably over recent decades in many countries. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is an important cause of coronary heart disease. Ezetimibe is a nonstatin agent that was approved in 2003 as an adjunctive therapy in combination with statins because of its ability to decrease plasma cholesterol levels. However, during a period of 12 years, this drug has been used without evidence of any positive effect in terms of morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this review is to briefly discuss the data that seem pertinent regarding the role of ezetimibe in therapy. The precise role of ezetimibe relative to other lipid-lowering drugs is unclear. Similar reductions in LDL cholesterol can often be achieved simply by maximizing the dose of statins. Ezetimibe plus atorvastatin also produced a greater reduction in serum C-reactive protein than atorvastatin alone.