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Published on: October 26, 2020
Renin-Angiotensin system modulators modestly reduce vascular risk in persons with prior stroke
Meng Lee1, Jeffrey L Saver, Keun-Sik Hong
1UCLA Stroke Center and Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Insights
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers modestly reduce vascular events and recurrent stroke in patients with prior stroke. These medications offer a clear benefit for secondary prevention in this population.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Neurology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Efficacy of ACE inhibitors and ARBs is established for coronary heart disease patients.
- Limited data exists on the benefit of these agents for patients with prior stroke.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate if ACE inhibitors or ARBs reduce future vascular events in individuals with a history of stroke.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
- Searched PubMed, Cochrane Central Register, and trial bibliographies.
- Pooled data to calculate relative risk for major vascular events and recurrent stroke.
Main Results:
- Eight trials with 29,667 participants were analyzed.
- ACE inhibitors/ARBs significantly lowered risks of major vascular events (RR 0.91) and recurrent stroke (RR 0.93).
- Number needed to treat was 71 for major vascular events and 143 for recurrent stroke.
Conclusions:
- ACE inhibitors or ARBs provide a modest but significant reduction in vascular risk for patients with prior stroke.
- These findings support the use of these agents for secondary vascular prevention.
Background And Purpose:
Although the efficacy of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers in reducing future vascular events for patients with coronary heart disease is established, less is known about the precise benefit of these agents among patients with stroke. We evaluated whether use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers reduces future vascular events in persons with prior stroke.
Methods:
We searched PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and bibliographies of relevant trials and recent review articles to identify randomized controlled trials. Relative risk with 95% CI was used as a measure of the association between use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers and risks of major vascular event (nonfatal stroke, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or death from cardiovascular causes) or stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic) after pooling data across trials.
Results:
Eight randomized controlled trials with 29 667 participants were identified. Use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers in persons with prior stroke was associated with lower risks of future major vascular events (relative risk, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.87-0.97; P=0.001; number needed to treat=71) and recurrent stroke (relative risk, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.86-0.99; P=0.03; number needed to treat=143). Heterogeneity was found among studies for end points of major vascular events (P=0.02, I(2)=61%) but not recurrent stroke (P=0.38, I(2)=6%). In subgroup analyses, there was generally no obvious heterogeneity among different study characteristics.
Conclusions:
Treatment with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker has a clear but rather modest effect on reducing vascular risk in persons with prior stroke.
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