Effect of lovastatin or niacin combined with colestipol and regression of coronary atherosclerosis.

Abstract

When aggressive lipid-altering therapy is compared with conventional therapy in patients at very high risk for CHD, i.e. those who have abnormal lipid profiles, established coronary disease, and symptomatic heart disease, aggressive therapy halves the expected frequency of progression, triples the frequency of regression, favours the net regression of disease, and reduces clinical events by nearly 75%. These benefits correlate with reductions in LDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and increases in HDL cholesterol, and are highly significant, not only statistically but also clinically. This finding is consistent with the observation that there is a persistent relationship between coronary morbidity and mortality across the spectrum of cholesterol levels, and that this risk can be reduced in men with CHD and abnormal lipid metabolism through aggressive lipid management.