Effects of bezafibrate and simvastatin on plasma lipoproteins in hypercholesterolemia resistant to hormone replacement therapy.
OBJECTIVE
Estrogen replacement therapy has favorable effects on serum lipoprotein levels in postmenopausal women with hypercholesterolemia. However, there are some patients who fail to respond to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to lower the serum cholesterol level. In these cases, a conventional lipid-lowering therapy will be applied in addition to HRT, while the effects of these drugs are not well understood. In this study, we studied the effects of simvastatin and bezafibrate administered in addition to HRT.


METHODS
Patients who were hypercholesterolemic even after HRT were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: HRT only (control group, n=10), HRT+simvastatin (10 mg/day, n=10), or HRT+bezafibrate (400 mg/day, n=10). Serum lipids and lipoprotein levels were measured throughout 12 weeks.


RESULTS
The serum triglyceride levels were decreased by 24+/-28 and 38+/-13% in the HRT+simvastatin and HRT+bezafibrate groups, respectively. HRT+simvastatin decreased the total cholesterol (21+/-10%) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (28+/-12%) levels without affecting the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level, while HRT+bezafibrate increased the HDL-C level (12+/-11%).


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with simvastatin or bezafibrate in addition to HRT should be considered in cases of postmenopausal hypercholesterolemia in which HRT alone fails to lower the serum lipoprotein levels.
Ohmichi
M
M
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. masa@gyne.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
Ikegami
H
H
Kurachi
H
H
Node
K
K
Morishige
K
K
Nishio
Y
Y
Adachi
K
K
Matumoto
K
K
Hayakawa
J
J
Tasaka
K
K
Azuma
C
C
Murata
Y
Y
D001629:Bezafibrate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000960:Hypolipidemic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D019821:Simvastatin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D000960:Hypolipidemic Agents; D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol; D019821:Simvastatin; D001629:Bezafibrate