Ischaemic stroke: statin-based therapy is effective for primary and secondary prevention

Takeaway

• This meta-analysis found that lipid lowering using statins is effective both for primary and secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke.

Why this matters

• Findings suggest that stroke survivors may get the most benefit in terms of preventing a future ischaemic stroke event by targeting cardiovascular disease (CVD)-free individuals at high cardiovascular risk and by achieving low low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol concentrations.

Study design

• 8 randomised controlled trials (4 primary and 4 secondary prevention trials) met eligibility criteria after a search on the PubMed database.
• Funding: None.

Key results

• Pooled analysis of primary prevention trials demonstrated that statin treatment was associated with a significant reduction in the risk for ischaemic stroke in CVD-free individuals (relative risk [RR], 0.70; 95% CI, 0.60-0.82; P<.001).
• In pooled analysis of secondary prevention trials, active treatment of stroke patients with statins reduced the risk of a future ischaemic stroke (RR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.70-0.90; P<.001).

Limitations

• Limited number of studies.