Adding niacin to statin therapy offers no incremental clinical benefit to patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and LDL cholesterol levels below 70 mg/dL, according to study findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine (online ahead of print).

The study included 3,414 patients who were randomly assigned to receive extended-release niacin or placebo in addition to simvastatin. The trial was stopped after a mean follow-up of three years because of a lack of efficacy. The primary endpoint—the first event of the composite of death from coronary heart disease, nonfatal myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and other events—occurred in a similar proportion of niacin and placebo recipients (16.4% and 16.2%, respectively).

From the December 01, 2011 Issue of Renal and Urology News