Statins can help lower the risk for people who have had a bleeding stroke of having an ischemic stroke, a new study finds.
A study in Neurology published last week focused on 15,151 people who had an intracerebral hemorrhage, a type of stroke caused when there is bleeding in the brain. Ischemic stroke, on the other hand, happens when there’s a blockage of blood flow to the brain; it’s the most common type of stroke.
Researchers followed the people from 30 days after the first intracerebral hemorrhage stroke until another one occurred, didn’t happen, or the people died. The average follow-up time was 3.3 years. Then the researchers evaluated prescription records. They compared people who had intracerebral hemorrhage stroke, people who had ischemic stroke and those who had recurring hemorrhages with people who didn’t have strokes.
Using statins was linked to a 12% lower risk of having another stroke. After adjusting for similar factors, statin use was associated with a 21% lower risk of an ischemic stroke after the initial bleeding stroke.
The researchers didn’t find a link between statin use and recurrent bleeding stroke.
“While we did find a lower risk of having another stroke, it is important to note that when looking at the data more closely, that lower risk was for ischemic stroke. Still, we found no increased risk for bleeding stroke. More studies are needed to confirm our findings,” David Gaist, MD, a researcher from the University of Southern Denmark, said in a statement.
Much research has been conducted on the effectiveness of statins in lowering cholesterol levels. A recent study found that low- to moderate-intensity statins are associated with a greater reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
“Randomized clinical trials have established high-intensity statin therapy as beneficial in patients with acute ischemic stroke,” Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, Eliot Corday professor of cardiovascular medicine and science at UCLA, who wasn’t part of the study, told MedicalNewsToday.
“Guidelines recommend the use of high intensity statin therapy in individuals after acute ischemic stroke as a routine standard of care,” he said.
