Effects of oral niacin on endothelial dysfunction in patients with coronary artery disease: Results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled INEF study
文摘
High-density-lipoproteins-cholesterol (HDL-C) is invertedly related to the incidence of cardiovascular events. Recent studies suggest that HDL-C directly improves endothelial function. Nicotinic acid (niacin) effectively raises serum HDL-C. We therefore hypothesized that treatment with niacin improves endothelial dysfunction in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). One hundred seven patients with CAD were randomly assigned to double-blinded treatment for 12 weeks with extended-release (ER)-niacin 1000 mg/day (N) or placebo (C), respectively. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery, nitroglycerin-mediated endothelium-independent dilation (NMD) and serum lipid concentrations were measured before and after treatment. Triglycerides (P = 0.013), low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) (P = 0.013) and HDL-C (P < 0.0001) were altered by N compared to C. Niacin treatment was without effect on FMD or NMD, respectively, compared to placebo. However, post-hoc subgroup analysis revealed an improvement in FMD in patients with low HDL-C at baseline (absolute change in FMD (mean ± S.D.) N: +3.25 ± 3.88 % , C: +1.03 ± 2.71 % in low tertile HDL-C ≤45 mg/dl. P = 0.047). The present findings indicate that ER-niacin treatment improves endothelial dysfunction in patients with CAD and low HDL-C, but not with normal HDL-C.
