TCD MD The Heart Beat writes of two new studies that shed some light on the use of statin therapy in the setting of acute ischemic stroke, with one study showing that stroke patients who stop taking the LDL cholesterol-lowering medication are at risk for adverse outcomes. Individuals who discontinued statin therapy in the first 6 months after being discharged from the hospital following an ischemic stroke had a 42% greater risk of recurrent stroke when compared with individuals who adhered to therapy, according to one analysis. Among patients who were maintained on statin therapy but at a reduced dose, there was no signal of increased risk compared with individuals who were maintained on the originally prescribed dose.
Read more:
- Many Stroke Patients Stop Statins or Never Start, With Dire Consequences. TCD MD. August 02, 2017