Statin Therapy for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Patients with Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials and Observational Cohort Studies

We examined the outcomes of recurrent stroke (after ischemic stroke) of any type, and separately recurrent ischemic stroke and recurrent hemorrhagic stroke. RCTs and observational cohort studies were meta-analysed separately. Odds ratios (OR) was used to assess the effect of statin therapy. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.4 software. Results We retrieved 559 papers in searches, of which 11 RCTs and 12 observational cohort studies were included. Both RCTs and observational studies found that statins reduced the odds of stroke of any type in those with an initial ischemic stroke (11 RCTs: OR=0.87, 95% CI [0.77,0.97]; P=0.02; 12 cohort studies: OR=0.80, 95% CI [0.66, 0.96]; P=0.02). Both RCTs and observational studies found that recurrence of ischemic stroke was reduced by statins (6 RCTs: OR=0.81, 95% CI [0.70, 0.93]; P=0.002; 3 observational studies: OR=0.67, 95% CI [0.61, 0.75]; P
Source: Neuroepidemiology - Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research