Toward Individualized Cholesterol-Lowering Treatment in End-Stage Renal Disease

There is broad evidence that lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol will reduce cardiovascular risk. However, in patients on maintenance hemodialysis treatment, lowering LDL cholesterol is not as effective in preventing cardiovascular complications as in the general population. Cholesterol is either endogenously synthesized or absorbed from the intestine. It has been suggested that the benefit of using statins to prevent atherosclerotic complications is less pronounced in people with high absorption of cholesterol. Recent data indicate that patients on hemodialysis have high absorption of cholesterol. Therefore, these patients may benefit from dietary counseling to reduce cholesterol intake, from functional foods containing plant sterols and stanols, and from drugs that interfere with intestinal absorption of sterols (i.e., ezetimibe, bile acid resins, and sevelamer). This review discusses cholesterol homeostasis and the perspective of personalized treatment of hypercholesterolemia in hemodialysis.