Vnitr Lek 2015, 61(11):965-969

The effect of a simvastatin and ezetimib combination on blood lipids and cardiovascular events in diabetic patients (comments on the subanalysis results within the IMPROVE-IT study)

Vladimír Soška^1,2,3

¹ Oddělení klinické biochemie a ICRC FN u sv. Anny v Brně, primář prof. MUDr. Vladimír Soška, CSc.

² II. interní klinika LF MU a FN u sv. Anny v Brně, přednosta prof. MUDr. Miroslav Souček, CSc.

³ Katedra laboratorních metod LF MU Brno, vedoucí katedry doc. MUDr. Milan Dastych, CSc., MBA

IMPROVE-IT study demonstrated that the addition 10 mg of ezetimibe to 40 mg of simvastatin in patients after acute coronary syndrome reduces significantly not only their LDL-cholesterol, but also the number of cardiovascular events. Recently published subanalysis of this study was focused on whether these combinations of drugs is more preferable for patients with diabetes mellitus or for patients without diabetes. The addition of ezetimibe to a simvastatin resulted in a greater decline of LDL-cholesterol level in diabetic group than in patients without diabetes. In patients with diabetes mellitus their cardiovascular morbidity and mortality were decreased significantly; reduction of these clinical end-points in the group of patients without diabetes were not statistically significant.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus; ezetimibe; LDL-cholesterol; simvastatin

Received: October 5, 2015; Accepted: November 11, 2015; Published: November 1, 2015  Show citation