Statins and clinical outcome of acute ischemic stroke: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Statin therapy is considered an effective measure for the prevention of ischemic stroke. Several recent studies have indicated that treatment with statins, prior to the onset of acute ischemic stroke, may also substantially reduce the severity of stroke and the degree of patient disability. The purpose of the present review is to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of statin pretreatment on functional outcome of acute ischemic stroke and to assess potential adverse events associated with statin use. METHODS: Relevant articles on the role of statins in acute ischemic stroke were identified via MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and by manual searches of the references of identified papers. Clinical studies (most were prospective cohort studies) assessing statin therapy for acute ischemic stroke were selected for the review. Only two randomized controlled clinical trials met the criteria to be included in the analysis. Clinical outcome was assessed based on the degree of disability determined with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel index (BI). The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to measure stroke severity. Recurrence of stroke in patients who had suffered from a previous stroke was analyzed with and without statin therapy. Incidence and severity of adverse reactions was reviewed. Because there were too many differences in study outcome measures, a quantitative analysis of data was deemed inappropriate. A qualitative summary of the data was consequently completed. RESULTS: Thirteen reports were systematically reviewed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of statins in the pretreatment of acute ischemic stroke. Pretreatment with statins was found to reduce the recurrence of stroke and to result in more favorable outcomes for patients. The beneficial effects of prior statin therapy in acute ischemic stroke were shown to be especially profound in whites, diabetics, elderly patients with hypertension and other vascular diseases, and in patients with ideal low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. There were few incidences of adverse reactions with statin pretreatment, most of which were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment with statins was associated with a favorable outcome in acute ischemic stroke, with few incidences of adverse reactions.