Combined hypolipidemic therapy with rosuvastatin and ezetimibe is the key to success in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

The treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) is actual worldwide and in Russia as the main reason of morbidity, mortality, invalidation of the working population and national economic damage. The main reasons of developing and progressing of CVD are hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia (DLP). DLP, as the main factor of the occurrence and progression of atherosclerosis, represent the most relevant modifiable factor of ASCVD. According to the epidemiological study of ESSE-RF, every second adult in Russia has DLP, every fifth – elevated total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, which makes the problem of complex individual lipid-lowering therapy actual. A proportional reduction of risk of ASCVD depends on the absolute reduction in blood levels of LDL-C. Statins remain the main group of drugs that significantly reduce LDL-C level. Rosuvastatin, which has the peak inhibitory activity against HMG-CoA reductase, used in daily doses of 10–40 mg, exhibits high lipid-lowering efficiency already at the initial daily dose, increasing with the rising dose. The combination of a statin with ezetimibe is recommended to achieve target LDL-C level, allows to reduce the dose of statin while maintaining excellent LDL-C lowering efficiency with good safety profile. Fixed combination of statin/ezetimibe in patients at very high ASCVD risk has been shown to be more effective than the same free combination, and reducing of taken pills increases adherence to treatment. The fixed combination of rosuvastatin/ezetimibe, presented on the Russian pharmacological market with Rosulip Plus, can be considered as the drug of choice in patients with DLP of high and very high cardiovascular risk, both from clinical and economic point of view.