Effect of short‐term treatment with bezafibrate and fenofibrate on biliary lipid metabolism in patients with hyperlipoproteinaemia

Abstract

Sixteen patients with different types of hyperlipoproteinaemia were treated with the clofibrate analogues, bezafibrate or fenofibrate. Serum lipids and lipid composition of gallbladder bile were measured before and after 3-4 weeks of treatment. Both bezafibrate and fenofibrate reduced serum lipids effectively but increased the lithogenic index of bile from 1.11 to 1.47 and 1.25 to 1.80 (P less than 0.01), respectively, by increasing molar percent of cholesterol and decreasing molar percent of bile acids. Measurements of biliary lipid secretion in three patients before and after bezafibrate administration revealed a marked and significant increase in cholesterol secretion (from 119 to 166, from 58 to 128, and from 149 to 172 mumol h-1, respectively; P less than 0.05) without altering bile acid and phospholipid output. These results indicate that bezafibrate and fenofibrate exhibit the same effect on biliary lipid metabolism as clofibrate and might therefore induce cholesterol gallstone disease.