Evaluating cardiovascular event reduction with ezetimibe as an adjunct to simvastatin in 18,144 patients after acute coronary syndromes: Final baseline characteristics of the IMPROVE-IT study population

Background The IMProved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial (IMPROVE-IT) is evaluating the potential benefit for reduction in major cardiovascular (CV) events from the addition of ezetimibe versus placebo to 40 mg/d of simvastatin therapy in patients who present with acute coronary syndromes and have low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) ≤125 mg/dL. Methods The primary composite end point is CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, rehospitalization for unstable angina (UA), and coronary revascularization (≥30 days postrandomization). The simvastatin monotherapy arm’s LDL-C target is