Comparative effects of more versus less aggressive treatment with statins on the long-term outcome of patients with acute ischemic stroke

If this is true your doctor should have this implemented in their hospital within the month. To not do so should be a fireable offense of the stroke department head.  Heads need to start rolling for the pathetic implementation of new stroke therapies. A great stroke association would be contacting every stroke hospital president on a monthly basis to make sure the latest is being implemented in their hospital. Anything less is pure incompetence on the part of the stroke associations. Of course your doctor will know of the recommendation  of not using high does of statins to treat cholesterol.

Comparative effects of more versus less aggressive treatment with statins on the long-term outcome of patients with acute ischemic stroke

Tziomalos K¹, Giampatzis V², Bouziana SD², Spanou M², Kostaki S², Papadopoulou M², Angelopoulou SM², Konstantara F², Savopoulos C², Hatzitolios AI².

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Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:

There are no studies that compared the effects of different intensities of statin treatment on the long-term outcome of patients with recent ischemic stroke. We aimed to evaluate these effects.

METHODS:

We prospectively studied 436 consecutive patients who were discharged after acute ischemic stroke (39.2% males, age 78.6 ± 6.7 years). Statin treatment was categorized in equipotent doses of atorvastatin. One year after discharge, the functional status was assessed with the modified Rankin scale (mRS). Adverse outcome was defined as mRS between 2 and 6. The occurrence of ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction and death was recorded.

RESULT:

Adverse outcome rates were lower in patients treated with atorvastatin 20 mg/day or more potent doses of statins than in patients treated with atorvastatin 10 mg/day (63.5, 38.2 and 48.2%, respectively; p = 0.004). In binary logistic regression analysis, independent predictors of adverse outcome were the mRS at discharge (relative risk (RR) 2.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.77-3.07, p < 0.001) whereas more aggressive treatment with statins independently predicted favorable outcome (atorvastatin 20 vs. 10 mg/day, RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.11-0.87, p = 0.026; atorvastatin 40 mg/day or more potent dose of statins vs. atorvastatin 10 mg/day, RR 1.66, 95% CI 0.62-4.44, p = NS). The incidence of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality showed a trend for being lower in patients treated with atorvastatin 40-80 mg/day or rosuvastatin 10-40 mg/day than in those treated with less potent doses of statins.

CONCLUSION:

More aggressive statin treatment improves the long-term functional outcome of patients with acute ischemic stroke more than less aggressive treatment.