Drugs that raise HDL confer no extra clinical benefit when added to a statin

Adding a therapy that boosts the level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in a patient already taking a statin is unlikely to produce a substantial clinical benefit, according to the results of a meta-regression analysis.

Brian A. Ference, MD, MPhil, MSc, and colleagues from Wayne State University in Detroit presented the results of their analysis at the 61st annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology, held in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The study also was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The investigators analyzed 26 statin trials that included 169,138 participants and estimated the effect of raising HDL cholesterol on major...