For people with high cholesterol and a high risk of heart disease, taking ezetimibe with a statin doesn’t prevent death, heart attacks, chest pain, or strokes better than just taking a higher dose of the statin—even though it improves cholesterol numbers more.

For people with high cholesterol and heart disease risk, taking ezetimibe with a statin might lead to more serious side effects than just doubling the statin dose — but these bad reactions are still very rare and might not even be caused by the drugs.

For people at risk of heart disease, adding a drug called ezetimibe to their cholesterol medicine might lower bad cholesterol more than just increasing the dose of their current pill — and more people hit their cholesterol goals — but it doesn’t seem to change the risk of heart attacks or side effects.

For people at very high risk of heart problems, taking a cholesterol drug (statin) with another drug (ezetimibe) is just as safe and easy to stick with as taking the statin alone.

For people with heart disease from clogged arteries, taking a moderate statin plus a drug called ezetimibe might lower cholesterol and triglycerides more than taking a strong statin alone.

For people at very high risk of heart problems, taking cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins plus another drug called ezetimibe lowers bad cholesterol more than taking statins alone — by about 13 points on average — and helps them hit their cholesterol targets better.