Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Since the establishment of the “lipid hypothesis”, according to which, cholesterol level is directly correlated to the risk of CVD, many different lipid-lowering agents have been introduced in clinical practice. A majority of these drugs, in addition to their lipid-lowering properties, may also exhibit some anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. This hypothesis was based on the observation that a decrease in lipid levels occurs along with a decrease in inflammation. Insufficient reduction in the inflammation during treatment with lipid-lowering drugs could be one of the explanations for treatment failure and recurrent CVD events. Thus, the aim of this narrative review was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory properties of currently available lipid-lowering medications including statins, ezetimibe, bile acid sequestrants (BAS), proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors, fibrates, omega-3 fatty acids, and niacin, as well as dietary supplements and novel drugs used in modern times.

The aim of our investigation is to correlate the wholesale data on antibiotic consumption expressed in daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID) with the resistance rate of invasive pathogen bacteria from 2017 to 2021. The data on antimicrobial resistance were collected from an analysis of the primary isolates of hospitalized patients. According to the CAESAR manual, the selected pathogens isolated from blood culture and cerebrospinal fluids were tested. The consumption of antibiotics for systematic use showed a statistically significant increasing trend (β = 0.982, p = 0.003) from 21.3 DID in 2017 to 34.5 DID in 2021. The ratio of the utilization of broad-spectrum to narrow-spectrum antibiotics increased by 16% (β = 0.530, p = 0.358). The most consumed antibiotic in 2021 was azithromycin (15% of total consumption), followed by levofloxacin (13%) and cefixime (12%). A statistically positive significant correlation was discovered between the percentage of resistant isolates of K. pneumoniae and consumption of meropenem (r = 0.950; p = 0.013), ertapenem (r = 0.929; p = 0.022), ceftriaxone (r = 0.924; p = 0.025) and levofloxacin (r = 0.983; p = 0.003). Additionally, the percentage of resistant isolates of E. coli and consumption of ertapenem showed significant correlation (r = 0.955; p = 0.011). Significant correlation with consumption of the antibiotics widely used at the community level, such as levofloxacin, and resistance isolated in hospitals indicates that hospital stewardship is unlikely to be effective without a reduction in antibiotic misuse at the community level.