Statins and ICH: New Meta-Analysis
Published in Ischemia, Tech News.
A new meta-analysis has concluded that the benefit of statin therapy in the prevention of ischemic stroke “greatly exceeds” the risk for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
The meta-analysis was released on AAN.com as part of the 2020 American Academy of Neurology Science Highlights. The meeting, like many others, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coauthor Abhi Pandhi, MD, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, explained to Medscape Medical News that some previous studies have suggested that statin therapy may be associated with an increased risk for ICH, especially at higher doses. Other studies, however, have failed to confirm this and have shown an increase in cardiovascular events if statins are stopped.
To look further into this issue, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 19 clinical studies involving patients who had a history of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events and who had been treated with statins. A total of 35,842 patients were included.