Simvastatin plus ezetimibe beneficial with chronic kidney disease

January 01, 0001

Simvastatin plus ezetimibe beneficial with chronic kidney disease

The SHARP trial, involving international investigators, aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of the combination of simvastatin plus ezetimibe in people with moderate-to-severe kidney disease. This randomised double- blind trial included 9270 patients with chronic kidney disease (3023 on dialysis and 6247 not) with no known history of myocardial infarction or coronary revascularisation. Patients were randomly assigned to simvastatin 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg daily versus matching placebo. 4650 patients were assigned to receive simvastatin plus ezetimibe and 4620 to placebo.

Allocation to simvastatin plus ezetimibe yielded an average LDL cholesterol difference of 0.85 mmol/L during a median follow-up of 4.9 years and produced a 17% proportional reduction in major atherosclerotic events (11.3% simvastatin plus ezetimibe vs 13.4% placebo; rate ratio, RR 0·83). Non- significantly fewer patients allocated to simvastatin plus ezetimibe had a non-fatal myocardial infarction or died from coronary heart disease (4.6% vs 5.0%; RR 0.92) and there were significant reductions in non-haemorrhagic stroke (2.8% vs 3.8%; RR 0.75) and arterial revascularisation procedures (6.1% vs 7.6%; RR 0.79). After weighting for subgroup-specific reductions in LDL cholesterol, there was no good evidence that the proportional effects on major atherosclerotic events differed from the summary rate ratio in any subgroup examined, and, in particular, they were similar in patients on dialysis and those who were not. The excess risk of myopathy was only two per 10 000 patients per year of treatment with this combination (0.2% vs 0.1%). There was no evidence of excess risks of hepatitis, gallstones, or cancer and there was no significant excess of death from any non-vascular cause.

The researchers concluded: "Reduction of LDL cholesterol with simvastatin 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg daily safely reduced the incidence of major atherosclerotic events in a wide range of patients with advanced chronic kidney disease."

Although this is only part of the problem with chronic renal disease, it is still significant reduction.

For the full abstract, click here.

The Lancet 377(9784):2181-2192, 25 June 2011 © 2011 Elsevier Limited
The effects of lowering LDL cholesterol with simvastatin plus ezetimibe in patients with chronic kidney disease (Study of Heart and Renal Protection): a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Colin Baigent, Martin J Landray, Christina Reith on behalf of the SHARP Investigators. Correspondence to: [email protected]

Category: U. Urinary System. Keywords: lowering, LDL cholesterol, effects, simvistatin, ezetimibe, chronic kidney disease, randomised double-blind trial, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Stephen Wilkinson, Melbourne, Australia. Posted on Global Family Doctor 8 July 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.