| Disease | FIFTY-THREE ELDERLY PATIENTS (60 TO 77 YEARS OF AGE) WITH PRIMARY HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA (TOTAL SERUM CHOLESTEROL >240 MG/DL) WERE ENROLLED IN A RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-MASKED, PARALLEL-GROUP, COMPARATIVE STUDY OF POLICOSANOL, AND SIMVASTATIN. BEFORE
RANDOMIZATION, ALL PATIENTS WERE ADVISED TO FOLLOW A STANDARD CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DIET FOR 6 WEEKS. PATIENTS WERE RANDOMIZED TO RECEIVE ETHER POLICOSANOL OR SIMVASTATIN, BOTH AT DOSES OF 10 MG/D FOR 8 WEEKS. WITH POLICOSANOL, TOTAL CHOLESTEROL,
LOW-DENSITY LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL (LDL-C), AND TRIGLYCERIDES WERE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED 14.7%, 17.9%, AND 13.8%, RESPECTIVELY. SIMVASTATIN SIGNIFICANTLY LOWERED TOTAL CHOLESTEROL 15.2%, LDL-C 19.8%, AND TRIGLYCERIDES 8.7%. NEITHER POLICOSANOL
NOR SIMVASATIN SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED HIGH-DENSITY LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL (HDL-C) LEVELS. TOTAL CHOLESTEROL:HDL-C AND LDL-C:HDL-C RATIOS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWERED BY BOTH THERAPIES. THE EFFECTS OF BOTH DRUGS ON LIPID PROFILE VARIABLES WERE
STATISTICALLY SIMILAR. BOTH DRUGS WERE WELL TOLERATED. |