Impact of lipid-lowering drugs on lipid profile in hyperlipidemia patients

Abstract

Background: Hyperlipidemia is an umbrella term for any of the genetic or acquired disorders that result in an elevated level of lipids circulating in the blood. These lipids can enter the walls of arteries and increase the risk of developing hardening of the arteries, which can lead to atherosclerosis, stroke, and heart attack. Objectives: The present study tries to investigate the impact of lipid-lowering drugs on lipid profile in patients with hyperlipidemia and to determine the best drug of choice in such patients. Materials and Methods: Sixty hyperlipidemia patients with the mean age of 45.52 ± 13.24 years admitted to a private clinic in Hilla city, Iraq, during a period extant from October 2022 to November 2022 were subjected to the present cross-sectional study. Patients were categorized according to the type of drug used and gender. Group 1 (G1) patients treated with rosuvastatin, group 2 (G2) patients treated with atorvastatin, group 3 (G3) patients treated with ezetimibe, and group 4 (G4) patients treated with combination of ezetimibe + simvastatin. Lipid profile was determined using enzymatic method. Results: The combination of ezetimibe + simvastatin has a better effect to lower the body mass index. Ezetimibe alone reduces total cholesterol (TC), whereas combination of ezetimibe + simvastatin was found to reduce TC, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triacylglycerol (TG). Rosuvastatin raises the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Conclusions: The combination of ezetimibe and simvastatin gives a good result in reducing the level of TC in the body, and this leads to a better reduction of LDL-cholesterol than using atorvastatin alone.