Background: The effects of statins on intima-media thickness (IMT) are well documented, whereas those of fibrates are unknown. Therefore we compared IMT under treatment with each class of drugs.
Methods: We studied a cohort of consecutive dyslipidemic subjects treated with statin (n = 291) or fibrate (n = 82) drugs. Fibrate-treated subjects were matched with the same number of statin-treated subjects to obtain two subgroups of similar demographic and risk factors including LDL cholesterol. Common carotid far wall IMT and lumen diameter were measured by ultrasonography.
Results: In the entire study population, IMT was greater in the fibrate group than in the statin group (P < .001), even after adjustment for LDL cholesterol and other covariates (P < .05). In the matched groups, IMT was greater in fibrate group than in the statin group (P < .01), even after adjustment for LDL cholesterol and other covariates including treatment duration (P < .01). The IMT correlated positively with treatment duration in the fibrate group (P < 0.05) but not in the statin group. In addition, IMT correlated positively with carotid lumen diameter in both the fibrate and statin groups (P < .05, P < .01) but with a lower slope in the former (P < .05).
Conclusions: In this study fibrate treatment was associated with greater IMT, steeper IMT-time relationship, and lower compensatory carotid enlargement than was statin treatment. These differences were not explained by differences in LDL cholesterol.