Combining statins with fibrates does not effectively lower the risk of heart attacks
People who are hoping to maintain or improve their heart health buy Lipitor and other statins, particularly if they have type 2 diabetes.
People who are hoping to maintain or improve their heart health buy Lipitor and other statins, particularly if they have type 2 diabetes. The metabolic disorder increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, prompting many patients to take a combination of drugs to lower their bad cholesterol count and triglyceride levels.
A recent commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that taking fibrate drugs and statins simultaneously may not effectively prevent heart attacks among type 2 diabetics who have elevated cholesterol.
Fibrates are used to lower blood triglycerides and raise the amount of good cholesterol. Although they are often prescribed to individuals who are already taking statins, doctors found that such a combination is not always effective at reducing the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events.
"There have been few studies regarding the clinical outcome efficacy of fibrates," said lead author Sanjay Kaul of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. "Thousands and thousands of Americans take fibrates every day, but so far, there are no long-term studies showing that [these drugs] lower cardiovascular risk or improve survival among diabetes patients who are also on statins."
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