Articles: anticholesteremic-agents-therapeutic-use.
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Health Technol Assess · May 2008
Review Meta AnalysisEzetimibe for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia: a systematic review and economic evaluation.
To review the clinical and cost-effectiveness of ezetimibe as a combination therapy or monotherapy for the treatment of primary hypercholesterolaemia in the UK. ⋯ The short-term RCT clinical evidence demonstrated that ezetimibe was effective in reducing LDL-c when administered as monotherapy or in combination with a statin. However, when used as a monotherapy, ezetimibe is less effective than statins in lowering LDL-c. Given the limitations in the effectiveness data, there is great uncertainty in the economic results. These suggest that ezetimibe could be a cost-effective treatment for individuals with high baseline LDL-c values, for patients with diabetes and for individuals with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia. Long-term clinical outcome studies are needed to allow more precise cost-effectiveness estimates to be calculated.
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Ezetimibe lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, but current lipid-lowering guidelines in the United States and Canada do not recommend it as a first option for either primary or secondary prevention. We sought to describe the adoption of ezetimibe relative to that of other lipid-lowering agents and compare its use in the two countries. ⋯ Distinct patterns of use of ezetimibe emerged in the United States and Canada from 2002 to 2006, a difference that markedly altered the approach to the treatment of hyperlipidemia in the United States. The U.S. pattern increased overall costs, but the effect on clinical outcomes is uncertain.
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Plant Foods Hum Nutr · Mar 2008
Randomized Controlled TrialEffect of high beta-glucan barley on serum cholesterol concentrations and visceral fat area in Japanese men--a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.
This study investigated whether the consumption of a diet in which high-beta-glucan barley replaced rice would reduce the visceral fat area as well as the serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol (TC) in hypercholesterolemic Japanese men. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled intervention study was conducted in 44 hypercholesterolemic Japanese men with a body mass index (BMI) >22 kg/m2. The subjects were randomly assigned to groups consuming either rice (placebo group) or a mixture of rice and pearl barley with a high beta-glucan content (test group, 7.0 g beta-glucan per day) for 12 weeks. ⋯ The pearl barley intake significantly reduced serum concentrations of LDL-C (P = 0.041) and TC (P = 0.037) during the trial. Significant differences between the test and placebo groups were found for the visceral fat (P = 0.039), BMI (P = 0.015), and waist circumference (P = 0.011) at the end point. The consumption of pearl barley with a high beta-glucan content reduces not only LDL-C but also visceral fat area.