Stroke Reduced 29% by Statin Agents

An analysis of 16 clinical trials published over a 10-year period indicates that treatment with cholesterol-lowering statin drugs reduces the incidence of stroke by 29%. The report, covering 29,000 patients, is in this morning's JAMA

Treatment also reduced total mortality by 22%, without an attendant increase in deaths caused by noncardiovascular disease or cancer. Previous research has proven that cholesterol therapy decreases the risk of coronary-artery disease, but its effects on stroke and total mortality had been unclear. The authors conclude, "With the larger reductions in cholesterol that are achieved with statin drugs, the benefit-to-risk ratio of cholesterol lowering is clearly favorable. The issue of generalizability of findings from the overview of the statins to cholesterol lowering in general remains untested."