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 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 heart disease from clogged arteries, taking a combo of a mid-strength cholesterol drug plus another pill (ezetimibe) doesn’t seem to cause more side effects than taking a strong cholesterol pill alone—at least in the short term.

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 at very high risk of heart problems, taking a cholesterol drug called ezetimibe along with a statin might lower their chances of serious heart issues more than taking just a statin alone.