A 58-year-old man has chest pain at 9:30 a.m.; 3 hours later, he calls for an ambulance. Paramedics arrive, provide standard treatment, and transport him to the nearest emergency department. On his arrival at a small hospital at 1 p.m., the findings are diagnostic of a myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation. The emergency department physician recommends immediate transfer to a …
Comments on the niacin ezitimibe study
On Nov. 15 a study compared adjunct therapy (niacin vs. ezitimibe) for patients with known coronary artery disease (CAD) and hypercholesterolemia. The results indicated that patients would be better of with niacin (results published elsewhere on this website). The NYTimes commented on the study outcomes: Study Raises Questions About Cholesterol Drug’s Benefit on November 15, 2009: “For patients taking a …
Niacin vs. Ezitimibe, Niacin Therapy
Extended-Release Niacin or Ezetimibe and Carotid Intima–Media Thickness (The ARBITER 6–HALTS trial, Taylor et al., NEJM, 11/15/2009): In a recent study, the effect of extended-release niacin (Niaspan, target dose, 2000 mg per day) was compared with ezetimibe (Zetia, 10 mg per day) in a small group of 208 patients with established Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). All these patients had been …