Table 2.

Evidence from selected randomized controlled trials supporting the use of add-on ezetimibe to reach LDL-C targets [22, 24–26]

Study name	N	Patients	Intervention	Control	Duration (weeks)	LDL-C goal < 2.6 mmol/L (100 mg/dL); intervention vs. control	LDL-C goal of < 1.8 mmol/L (70 mg/dL); intervention vs. control
Strategy: adding ezetimibe vs. maintaining monotherapy dose
EXPLORER [22]	469	Hypercholesterolemia + high risk of CHD	Ezetimibe/rosuvastatin 10/40 mg	Rosuvastatin 40 mg	6	94.0 vs. 79.1%; p < 0.001	NA
EXPLORER [22]	393	Hypercholesterolemia + very high risk of CHD	Ezetimibe/rosuvastatin 10/40 mg	Rosuvastatin 40 mg	6	NA	79.6 vs. 35.0%; p < 0.001
I-ROSETTE [24]	325	Hypercholesterolemia + CHD/CHD risk equivalents	Ezetimibe/rosuvastatin 10/5, 10/10, or 10/20 mg	Rosuvastatin 5, 10, or 20 mg	8	92.0 vs. 77.8%; p < 0.001	NA
Ran et al. [25]	84	Non-ST-elevation ACS	Ezetimibe/ rosuvastatin 10/10 mg	Rosuvastatin 10 mg	6	NA	81.0 vs. 33.3%; p < 0.05
Strategy: adding ezetimibe vs. doubling monotherapy dose
ACTE [28]	440	Hypercholesterolemia + moderate-high CHD risk	Ezetimibe/ rosuvastatin 10/5 or 10/10 mg	Rosuvastatin 20 mg	6	59.4 vs. 30.9%; p < 0.001	43.8 vs. 17.5%; p < 0.001
PACE [26] (period I)	603	Hypercholesterolemia + high ASCVD risk	Ezetimibe/atorvastatin 10/10 mg	Atorvastatin 20 mg	6	56.3 vs. 37.4%; p < 0.01	19.3 vs. 3.0%; p < 0.01
PACE [26] (period II)	250	Uncontrolled on atorvastatin 20 mg during phase 1	Ezetimibe/atorvastatin 10/20 mg	Atorvastatin 40 mg	6	55.8 vs. 34.1%; p < 0.01	18.3 vs. 0.8%; p < 0.01
Ran et al. [25]	83	Non-ST-elevation ACS	Ezetimibe/rosuvastatin 10/10 mg	Rosuvastatin 20 mg	6	NA	81.0 vs. 68.3%; p < 0.05

ACS acute coronary syndrome, ASCVD atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, CHD coronary heart disease, LDL-C low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, NA not available