ENHANCE study: Ezetimibe lowers LDL, but does it matter?
We cannot be sure of clinical benefits until the ongoing trial reports the patient-oriented outcomes.
Be up front with patients
What am I going to do in the office tomorrow? Just as there aren’t data to suggest we should stop the use of ezetimibe in a wholesale fashion, there aren’t data to support its widespread use in a wholesale fashion. I can’t get enthusiastic about prescribing ezetimibe for most patients.
What about patients’ questions? I think we need to tell them that their expensive medicine lowers their LDL, but we have no idea if it prevents any of the outcomes that we really care about.
We’ll know more when the ongoing trial based on patient-oriented outcomes is reported, but that’s still a ways off (and an editorial topic for another day).
