Dual versus mono antiplatelet therapy for acute non- cardio embolic ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack, an efficacy and safety analysis - updated meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: New evidence on the efficacy and safety of dual antiplatelet therapy for secondary stroke prevention have been realized in the recent years. An updated meta analysis was done to determine the effect of the various dual antiplatelets vs aspirin alone on recurrence rate of ischemic stroke, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and its safety profile as reported through major bleeding. METHODS: PubMed, Cochrane and Science Direct data bases were utilized, RCTs evaluating dual antiplatelet vs mono antiplatelet therapy for acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack within < 72 h from ictus were searched up to July 2019. Risk ratio at 95% confidence intervals were calculated to evaluate stroke recurrence, cardiac events and mortality, and major bleeding. RESULTS: Sixteen randomized controlled trials with a population of 28, 032 patients were pooled into a meta-analysis. Dual antiplatelet therapy was significantly superior over mono antiplatelet therapy in the reduction of stroke (RR 0.75, 95% CI:0.68–0.83, p value< 0.00001) and composite events namely cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (0.73 95% CI: 0.65–0.82, p value < 0.00001), while bleeding events were noted to be not significant (1.22 95% CI: 0.87–1.70, p value = 0.25). CONCLUSION: In acute non-cardioembolic ischemic strokes or those who have suffered a transient ischemic attack, dual antiplatelet therapy was associated with efficacy in stroke recurrence and composite cardiac events, with a non-significant risk of major bleeding.