Every year, around 21,400 people in Sweden suffer from heart attack. About one-fifth of them die, and for those who survive, the risk of suffering from new heart attacks is high during the first year.
Previous research has shown that those who lower their cholesterol quickly after the first attack can significantly reduce the risk of a new one. Now, a new Swedish study from Lund University shows that those who receive a combination of two different types of cholesterol-lowering medications seem to fare even better than those who only receive additional treatment later.
Over 100
Today, all patients who have had a heart attack receive a type of cholesterol-lowering medication called statins directly after the attack. But if they also receive the medication ezetimib, the risk of common complications appears to decrease.
According to the study, between 100 to 200 new heart attacks, strokes, and deaths could be prevented in Sweden every year. The results are based on registry data from 36,000 patients between 18 and 80 years old.
About 75 percent of all heart patients do not get their blood fats down sufficiently with statins alone. Additional treatment is given at follow-up visits in healthcare, which leads to unnecessary delay, says Margrét Leósdóttir, researcher at Lund University and chief physician in cardiology at Skåne University Hospital, who has driven the study.
New Routines
According to her, it can, in addition to reducing suffering for patients, save time and money by introducing two medications at once.
At Skåne University Hospital in Malmö, new working methods have already been introduced so that more patients receive additional treatment with ezetimib directly in connection with heart attack. Margrét Leósdóttir hopes that the guidelines will change at both European and national levels.
The study has been published in JACC Journals and is funded by the Heart-Lung Foundation, Region Skåne, and Region Uppsala.
In the current study, the researchers have looked at the patients' prognosis if additional treatment with the cholesterol-lowering medication ezetimib is introduced early - max 12 weeks after the attack - or late - 13 weeks to 16 months after the attack.
The study is based on data from the quality registry Swedheart from 36,000 patients who had a heart attack between 2015 and 2022. According to the statistical models used by the researchers, patients who receive combination treatment with statin and ezetimib within 12 weeks after the attack and manage to lower cholesterol to target levels early have a better prognosis and lower risk of new attacks and death than those who receive additional treatment late or not at all.
Source: JACC Journals
