After Stenting, a Moderate-Intensity Statin plus Ezetimibe or a High-Intensity Statin?

In an observational study, a moderate-intensity statin plus ezetimibe was associated with fewer adverse cardiovascular events, fewer statin discontinuations, and a lower rate of new-onset diabetes than a high-intensity statin alone.

Statins are the backbone of lipid management for cardiovascular prevention. To understand how high-intensity statin monotherapy versus a combination of moderate-intensity statin plus ezetimibe affected outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), researchers conducted an observational study using national Korean data on patients who had undergone drug-eluting stent implantation.

Because receipt of one treatment versus another can be dependent on patient characteristics (confounders) that also are associated with outcomes, the investigators employed inverse probability weighting to reduce selection bias. Of the 72,050 patients, 10,794 received combination lipid-lowering therapy (rosuvastatin, 10 mg, plus ezetimibe, 10 mg) and 61,2…

Reviewing Author

Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, FACC

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBoehringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Novartis; Lilly; Amarin

Speaker’s BureauBoehringer Ingelheim

Grant/Research SupportNIH

Editorial BoardsCirculation (Associate Editor)