Trial of clofibrate in the treatment of ischaemic heart disease. Five-year study by a group of physicians of the Newcastle upon Tyne region.

  • 25 December 1971
    • journal article
    • clinical trial
    • Vol. 4  (5790) , 767-75
Abstract
In a double-blind clinical trial of clofibrate versus identical quantity of corn oil 497 patients with ischaemic heart disease were observed over a period of five years. The death rate and the rate of non-fatal infarcts were significantly less among the clofibrate group, and the difference was greatest in respect of sudden deaths and among patients who had previously suffered from angina rather than infarction.The cholesterol- and triglyceride-reducing properties of clofibrate were maintained throughout the period of the trial and side effects were very few. But the protective action of the drug against new infarcts and death bore no apparent relation to these properties.