Ozagrel for Patients With Noncardioembolic Ischemic Stroke: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis

Ozagrel sodium (ozagrel), a thromboxane A2 synthesis inhibitor, is used for ischemic stroke patients in several countries, despite a lack of strict evidence of its benefits. We investigated whether ozagrel was beneficial for patients with atherothrombotic stroke or lacunar infarction.

This was a retrospective observational study using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database in Japan. We identified patients with atherothrombotic stroke or lacunar infarction who were admitted to 781 hospitals from July 1, 2010 to March 31, 2012. Propensity score-matched analyses were performed separately for patients with atherothrombotic stroke and those with lacunar infarction, which balanced differences in baseline characteristics between patients who received ozagrel (ozagrel group) and those who did not (control group) in each stroke subtype. The modified Rankin Scale scores at discharge and occurrence of hemorrhagic complications after admission were compared between the ozagrel and control groups.

After the propensity score matching, 2726 pairs of patients with atherothrombotic stroke and 1612 pairs of patients with lacunar infarction were analyzed. Ordinal logistic regression analyses showed that ozagrel use was not significantly associated with modified Rankin Scale score at discharge in patients with atherothrombotic stroke (odds ratio: .99; 95% confidence interval: .88-1.11) or in those with lacunar infarction (odds ratio: 1.00; 95% confidence interval: .87-1.16). The occurrence of hemorrhagic complications did not differ significantly between the ozagrel and control groups.

The present study suggested that ozagrel was safe to use but did not improve functional outcomes in patients with atherothrombotic or lacunar infarction.