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Published on: November 10, 2017

Statins and stroke prevention

Maurizio Paciaroni1, Julien Bogousslavsky

  • 1Stroke Unit and Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Universiy of Perugia, Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital, Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, 06126 - Perugia, Italy. maurizio.paciaroni@med.unipg.it

Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy
|October 10, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Statins significantly reduce stroke risk in patients with vascular disease. Each decrease in LDL-cholesterol with statins correlates with a lower relative risk for stroke.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Neurology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Statins are widely used for primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease.
  • Recent evidence suggests statins also reduce stroke risk in patients with vascular disease.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of statins on stroke risk.
  • To explore the mechanisms behind statin-induced stroke risk reduction.

Main Methods:

  • Meta-analysis of randomized trials involving 165,792 individuals.
  • Analysis of the Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction of Cholesterol Levels (SPARCL) study.

Main Results:

  • A 1-mmol/l decrease in LDL-cholesterol with statins was associated with a 21.1% relative risk reduction for stroke.
  • Atorvastatin treatment reduced recurrent cerebrovascular events in patients with recent stroke or transient ischemic attack.

Conclusions:

  • Statins effectively reduce stroke risk, potentially through both cholesterol-lowering and pleiotropic effects.
  • The findings support the use of statins in stroke prevention strategies.

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