The authors used stroke patient history to determine if statin therapy was effective at reducing post-stroke complications in an older population. They concluded that statin therapy lowers the risk of post-stroke problems, hospital readmission and death in this population.

Statins are therapies used to lower cholesterol levels in the body. Evidence has shown that statin therapy can lower the risk of cardiovascular problems, such as a heart attack, after stroke. However the data suggesting this is based off a population of stroke patients who are younger and healthier than usual stroke patients. It is therefore unknown how statin therapy would affect an older population. In addition, there is little research on the best dose of statin therapy to administer and whether there are different side effects involved with either a high or low dose.

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of statin therapy in an older population of stroke patients in reducing the risk of post-stroke complications. The authors searched a resgistry of stroke patients over 65 for those who were not on statin therapy prior to the stroke. They assessed the effect of statin therapy on the risk of cardiac problems, hospital readmission, death, recurrent stroke and home time (days spent outside hospital). Patients underwent a 2 year follow-up.

77,468 ischemic stroke patients who were not treated with statins prior to stroke were included. After hospital discharge, 54,991 of these patients (71%) were prescribed statin therapy. 22,477 patients were not.

Those treated with statins had, on average, a 9% lower risk of cardiac problems, 16% lower risk of death, 7% lower risk of readmission and 28 more home time days then those not treated.

To determine the best dose of therapy, 29,631 patients were included. 9,145 (30.9%) of these were treated with high intensity therapy, while the remainder were treated with moderate-intensity therapy. High-intensity treatment was associated with a slight but significant increase in hospital readmission rates (8% increase in risk).

The authors concluded that satin therapy is effective at reducing post-stroke complications in an older population.