Comparison of Renal Effects of Ezetimibe-Statin Combination versus Statin Monotherapy: A Propensity-Score-Matched Analysis

Neither lowering of blood lipid levels nor treatment with statins definitively improves renal outcomes. Ezetimibe, a non-statin antilipidemic agent, is known to not only decrease blood lipid levels but also reduce inflammatory response and activate autophagy. We evaluated the effect of adding ezetimibe to a statin on renal outcome compared with statin monotherapy by analyzing longitudinal data of 4537 patients treated with simvastatin 20 mg plus ezetimibe 10 mg (S + E) or simvastatin 20 mg alone (S) for more than 180 days. A propensity-score-based process was used to match baseline characteristics, medical history, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) between S + E and S groups. Changes in serum creatinine and incidence of renal events, defined as doubling of serum creatinine to >= 1.5 mg/dL or occurrence of end-stage renal disease after the first day of treatment initiation, were compared between the groups. Among 3104 well-matched patients with a median follow-up of 4.2 years, the S + E group showed a significantly lower risk of renal events than the S group (hazard ratio 0.58; 95% CI 0.35-0.95, P = 0.032). In addition, the S + E group tended to preserve renal function compared with the S group throughout follow-up, as assessed by serum creatinine changes (P-values for time-group interactions <0.001). These data support the beneficial effects on renal function when combining ezetimibe with a statin.