Review: Reconsidering the value of fibrates: lessons from the trials

Abstract

Therapy with both statins and fibrates reduces the risk of coronary events. In the fibrate studies the extent of reduction is disproportionately large in people with features of the metabolic syndrome such as overweight, elevated baseline levels of plasma triglyceride and low baseline high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c). In such people, treatment with fibrates results in a 40—50% reduction in coronary heart disease events, much greater than predicted (from the human population studies) by the joint changes in concentrations of HDL-c or low density lipoprotein-cholesterol.