Background: Hypercholestrolemia is a lipid disorder that occurs as a consequence of high levels of plasma low density lipoprotein-cholesterol. This, in turn, increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease which is the most common cause of death in Sweden. Treatment aiming to decrease levels of plasma low density lipoprotein-cholesterol is therefore of great importance. Examples of drugs that are used to lower levels of plasma low density lipoprotein-cholesterol are Simvastatin Sandoz and Ezetimibe Actavis. Aim: The aim with this literature study was to investigate if simvastatin in combination with ezetimibe is more effective treatment to improve lipid profile in patients with hypercholesterolemia than simvastatin as monotherapy. Method: In this literature study, five articles were selected and reviewed. All articles were retrieved from the PubMed database using the keywords ezetimibe and simvastatin during the month of September in 2021. In the selected studies more variables than those relevant for this study were examined and due to that these results were excluded in the present review. Results: In all studies, the level of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol decreased during monotherapy and with combination therapy. When combined administration of simvastatin and ezetimibe was used, levels decreased significantly more than with monotherapy. There were small variations between results of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol and triglycerides. Conclusion: Simvastatin and ezetimibe in combination had a better effect than simvastatin alone on improving lipid profile and also cardiovascular outcomes in individuals with hypercholesterolemia. Although out of the scope of this study, combination therapy also had a beneficial impact on mitochondrial function and a better effect in individuals with insulin resistance. This further promotes the conclusion that combination therapy is superior to monotherapy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-108285 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Nilsson, Johanna |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kemi och biomedicin (KOB) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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