Clofibrate in Coronary Heart Disease

Abstract

A series of 1,001 men free of coronary heart disease and 67 with disease with an average age of 47.5 years were divided in two groups pairmatched for risk factors. One group was treated with an antilipemic agent (clofibrate) whereas the other remained untreated for 39 months. The nonfatal myocardial infarction rate was 6.6/1,000/yr and 1.89/1,000/yr for untreated and treated men, respectively. Two younger unmatched treated and untreated groups totaling 2,218 men who had an average age of 37.5 years and were free of coronary heart disease were observed for 32.4 and 22.8 months, respectively. The incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction was 5.0/1,000/yr in the untreated and 0.64/1,000/yr in the treated individuals. These results were observed notwithstanding the persistence of varying degrees of hyperlipidemia in some treated individuals. There was no significant difference in mortality at this time.