Determinants of Bezafibrate-induced Improvements in LDL Cholesterol in Dyslipidemic Patients with Diabetes.

AIM Our previous "J-BENEFIT (Japan BEzafibrate cliNical EFfectIveness and Tolerability)" study demonstrated that bezafibrate improves blood lipid profiles and glucose control in dyslipidemic patients with diabetes. However, bezafibrate did not significantly improve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), although some patients showed decreases while others showed increases in the LDL-C levels. Therefore, a subgroup analysis of the J-BENEFIT study was conducted to identify factors influencing the bezafibrate-induced changes in the LDL-C levels. METHODS Of the 3,316 patients in the J-BENEFIT study, 2,116 not treated with other lipid-lowering drugs were enrolled in the current study, and the effects of 24-week treatment with bezafibrate on the LDL-C levels were analyzed. A reduction in the LDL-C level of ≥ 25% occurred in 253 patients, and a logistic-regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with this improvement. RESULTS Among the 2,116 overall patients, bezafibrate treatment significantly increased the LDL-C levels from 123.9±36.7 to 125.7±31.3 mg/dL. The subanalysis showed that the treatment responses varied according to the baseline LDL-C level, with significant decreases in the ≥ 160 and ≥ 140-＜160 mg/dL groups, no significant decrease in the ≥ 120-＜140 mg/dL group and a significant increase in the ＜120 mg/dL group. A multivariate logistic-regression analysis of the data for the patients with an LDL-C of ≥ 25% identified a female sex, the use of anti-hypertensive and hypoglycemic agents and a high baseline LDL-C level to be significant determinants of the LDL-C response to bezafibrate. CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that treatment with bezafibrate improves the LDL-C levels and lipid profiles in dyslipidemic diabetic patients, especially women, subjects co-treated with anti-hypertensive or hypoglycemic agents and those with high baseline LDL-C levels.