What happens when you add stronger cholesterol medicine to statins?
Efficacy of lipid lowering therapy beyond statins to prevent cardiovascular events
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
No improvement in survival despite significant reductions in heart attacks and strokes
It’s commonly assumed that preventing major cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes would lead to longer life, but this meta-analysis found no such benefit.
Practical Takeaways
If you have coronary artery disease and are on statins, talk to your doctor about whether adding ezetimibe, bempedoic acid, or a PCSK-9 inhibitor could reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
No improvement in survival despite significant reductions in heart attacks and strokes
It’s commonly assumed that preventing major cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes would lead to longer life, but this meta-analysis found no such benefit.
Practical Takeaways
If you have coronary artery disease and are on statins, talk to your doctor about whether adding ezetimibe, bempedoic acid, or a PCSK-9 inhibitor could reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke.
Publication
Journal
European Heart Journal
Year
2024
Authors
I. Dykun, M. Khoury, T. Rassaf, A. Mahabadi
Related Content
Claims (4)
Adding a drug called evolocumab to cholesterol-lowering statins can lower the chances of serious heart problems by 20% in people who already have heart disease.
For people with heart artery disease already taking cholesterol pills, adding one of two other types of cholesterol drugs helps lower their chances of heart attacks and strokes — especially strokes — and gives extra protection for their heart health.
Even if you add extra cholesterol drugs like ezetimibe, bempedoic acid, or PCSK-9 inhibitors to statins, people with heart disease don’t live longer — it helps prevent heart attacks, but doesn’t seem to help them survive overall.
For people with heart disease, adding certain cholesterol-lowering drugs to their usual statin medicine cuts the chance of having a stroke by 23%—and this protection might be even better than for heart attacks.