Ezetimibe

Articles tagged with "Ezetimibe".

Does Ezetimibe Really Help Prevent Heart Disease?

Tags: Ezetimibe, Cholesterol, Cardiovascular Health

March 21, 2025

Dr. Kumar’s Take:

Ezetimibe lowers LDL cholesterol, but that alone doesn’t make it a game-changer for preventing heart attacks or saving lives. When used by itself, it hasn’t been shown to prevent heart disease or reduce death rates. However, adding ezetimibe to a statin may offer a small but meaningful benefit in high-risk patients, especially those who’ve already had a heart event. If you’re doing well on a statin, ezetimibe is not usually necessary. But if your cholesterol remains high or you’re statin-intolerant, this might be a reasonable add-on — with modest expectations.

PCSK9 Inhibitors & Ezetimibe: Lowering Heart Risk Beyond Statins

Tags: Cardiology, PCSK9 Inhibitors, Ezetimibe

March 18, 2025

Dr. Kumar’s Take

This BMJ study shows that adding PCSK9 inhibitors or ezetimibe to standard statin therapy can lower the chance of having a heart attack or stroke—especially in people at high risk for heart disease. Though the results were positive, the benefits were modest and only valid for those at high risk. For example, in high-risk patients, PCSK9 inhibitors can reduce heart attacks by about 12 fewer events per 1000 people over five years. So over 5 years, your absolute risk of having a heart attack was reduced by 1.2% or 0.24% per year. And strokes were reduced by about 16 fewer events per 1000 people. That’s a 1.6% absolute reduction in strokes over 5 years or a 0.32% absolute risk reduction per year. For low or moderate risk patients, the benefits were essentially non-existent.