Background The IMProved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial (IMPROVE-IT) is evaluating the potential benefit for reduction in major cardiovascular (CV) events from the addition of ezetimibe versus placebo to 40 mg/d of simvastatin therapy in patients who present with acute coronary syndromes and have low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) ≤125 mg/dL. Methods The primary composite end point is CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, rehospitalization for unstable angina (UA), and coronary revascularization (≥30 days postrandomization). The simvastatin monotherapy arm's LDL-C target is 70 mg/dL. Ezetimibe was assumed to further lower LDL-C by 15 mg/dL and produce an estimated ~8% to 9% treatment effect. The targeted number of events is 5,250. Results We enrolled 18,144 patients with either ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI, n = 5,192) or UA/non-ST-segment elevation MI (UA/NSTEMI, n = 12,952) from October 2005 to July 2010. Western Europe (40%) and North America (38%) were the leading enrolling regions. The STEMI cohort was younger and had a higher percentage of patients naive to lipid-lowering treatment compared with the UA/NSTEMI cohort. The UA/NSTEMI group had a higher prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and prior MI. Median LDL-C at entry was 100 mg/dL for STEMI and 93 mg/dL for UA/NSTEMI patients. Conclusions This trial is evaluating LDL-C lowering beyond previously targeted LDL-C levels. The results depend on achieving the desired separation of LDL-C with ezetimibe and on the assumption that ezetimibe's lowering of LDL-C will have similar event reduction efficacy as the LDL-C lowering from a statin. The results could affect future therapies and guidelines. © 2014 The Authors.
CITATION STYLE
Blazing, M. A., Giugliano, R. P., Cannon, C. P., Musliner, T. A., Tershakovec, A. M., White, J. A., … Califf, R. M. (2014). Evaluating cardiovascular event reduction with ezetimibe as an adjunct to simvastatin in 18,144 patients after acute coronary syndromes: Final baseline characteristics of the IMPROVE-IT study population. American Heart Journal, 168(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2014.05.004
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.