Dr Malik reports: I had fallen out of love with fish oils, Maxepa, and triglyceride lowering.
At the AHA meeting in Autumn 2018, triglycerides (TG) became interesting again. After you have lowered your cholesterol with statins, risk still remains. What about lowering TG – this has to date not reduced cardiovascular events. At this meeting, the REDUCE-IT trial showed a 20% reduction in cardiovascular death and 25% reduction in MACE ( the combination of death, death attack and stroke).
Why? A 4 g dose of EPA (omega-3 oil eicosapentaenoic acid) was used, not the low doses used before. The TG levels were elevated , and the patients were at higher risk- with previous CVS events, or with no events but diabetes and an additional risk factor.
Thus, it is worth considering this additional therapy if you want to lower risk further despite tolerating statin therapy.
The STRENGTH trial will look at a similar group and of it conforms this finding next year, that will be a game changer!
Read more here.
