Huang R, et al. - Researchers compared the impact of lipid-lowering, hypoglycemic, antihypertensive, and antiplatelet medications on carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) progression in a network meta-analysis (NMA). They identified eligible 47 studies (n=15,721) via a literature search in several electronic databases. Treatment duration was 25.8 months. Of the 13 drug classes in the network, retardation in annual mean cIMT was most effectively brought about by phosphodiesterase III inhibitors against network placebo, followed by the calcium channel blockers and platelet adenosine diphosphate inhibitors. Overall, compared with other drug classes, phosphodiesterase III inhibitors and calcium channel blockers displayed greater efficacy in retarding cIMT progression. These authors acknowledged that these outcomes could be influenced, to some extent, by age, BMI, and baseline cIMT.