Inpatient Statin Use After Stroke Increases Survival Odds

Patients who took statins while hospitalized after suffering a stroke were more likely to be discharged to an inpatient rehabilitation center or to their homes and yielded a better overall 30-day health outcome, according to a recent study.

In order to determine the impact of using statins while hospitalized, researchers evaluated electronic medical and pharmacy records of 3481 ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke (ICH) patients in 20 different hospitals over a 10-year period
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Generic vs Brand Name Statins: Which Boasts Better Adherence
Do Statins Up the Risk of Microvascular Disease?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The results showed that inpatient statin users were more likely to remain alive 30 days after ICH compared to non-users (18.4% vs. 38.7%).  Researchers found that significantly more patients receiving statin treatment in the hospital were discharged to a rehabilitation center or their homes compared to ICH patients not treated with statins (51.1% vs. 35%).

The study further showed that patients that discontinued statin therapy while hospitalized had a 57.8% rate of mortality compared to 22.3% of patients using statins before and during hospitalization.

“The controversy regarding statin use and ICH is far from settled. … [the] study thus requires validation in a prospective cohort. For now, however, it provides sufficient evidence to recommend at least the continuation of statin therapy after nonamyloid ICH for at least 30 days after the initial event,” said Marco A. Gonzalez-Castellon, MD, and Randolph S. Marshall, MD, MS, editorialists of the study, and researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, New York.

“Further study of this important management question is warranted,” they said.

The complete study is published in the September issue of JAMA Neurology.

-Michelle Canales

References:

Flint AC, Conell C, Rao VA, et al. Effect of statin use during hospitalization for intracerebral hemorrhage on mortality and discharge disposition. JAMA Neurol. 2014 Sept [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2014.2124.

Gonzalez-Castellon MA, Marshall RS. Statin use and brain hemorrhage. JAMA Neurol. 2014 Aug [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2014.2463.

JAMA Neurology. Statins associated with better outcomes in hospitalization for brain hemorrhage. September 22, 2014. http://media.jamanetwork.com/news-item/statins-associated-with-better-outcomes-in-hospitalization-for-brain-hemorrhage. Accessed September 23, 2014.