A new medical review has found that combining two cholesterol-lowering medications can substantially lower the risk of death in patients recovering from heart attacks or strokes. The therapy, involving a high-dose statin and ezetimibe, has shown a significant improvement in survival rates and heart health outcomes in high-risk individuals.
According to Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers evaluated data from over 108,000 patients across 14 clinical studies. They discovered that the combination therapy reduced “bad” LDL cholesterol more effectively than statins alone, helping 85% of patients achieve target cholesterol levels.
Statins limit cholesterol production in the liver, while ezetimibe reduces its absorption in the gut. When taken together, they lowered the risk of all-cause mortality by 19%, cardiovascular-related deaths by 16%, major cardiovascular events by 18%, and stroke by 17%. A further comparative analysis revealed even greater benefits—cutting overall mortality by 49% and major cardiac events by 39%, compared to statin-only therapy.
The impact could be far-reaching. Cardiovascular diseases are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming an estimated 20 million lives annually, with elevated LDL cholesterol accounting for around 4.5 million of these. Researchers project that adopting this dual-drug regimen globally could prevent more than 330,000 deaths each year in patients who have already suffered a heart attack.
“This study confirms that combined cholesterol-lowering therapy should be considered immediately and should be the gold standard for treatment of very high-risk patients after an acute cardiovascular event,” said the senior researcher.
Article updated 3 weeks ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
