Continued Statin Use Boosts Post-Stroke Outcomes

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Withdrawal of statins appears to undermine or block much of the brain protection afforded by prior use of the drug, the researchers speculate. Holding back the drugs might also impair vascular function and increase inflammation, the authors said.

Based on their findings, Castillo's team strongly encourage physicians not to withdraw statins from patients who have been taking the drug prior to a stroke. They also call for more research to explore whether giving statins to stroke patients who haven't tried them before might improve their long-term outcomes.

Fink said the study bolsters the notion that the approved role of statins should be expanded to include post-stroke treatment.

"I suspect that at some point, they'll be a request submitted to the FDA to add this to the list of indications [for statins], because the evidence keeps piling up that this is very beneficial," he said.

However, Dr. Eric Smith, an associate director of acute stroke services at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said more research may still be needed. He said that that while the finding is interesting, only more research can clarify whether it is the statins that provide the post-stroke benefit, or if secondary factors are at play.

"It might be a good idea to maintain statins following a stroke in any patient the physician expects might survive the stroke, because they might help prevent damage," he said. "Studies have already been done in animals, and animals who got statins did better than those who didn't. But I think we need another human trial specifically looking at whether statins can improve outcomes in people after a stroke, even among patients who weren't taking statins before."

In a related study also published in this week's Neurology, a team led by Dr. Gail Li, of the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, has found that statin use might curb Alzheimer's-linked brain changes.

The study, funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, focused on autopsy findings from the brains of 110 people over 65 who had donated their brains for research. The deceased had all been patients at the Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative Center for Health Studies.

Li's team found that people who had taken statin medications had fewer protein "tangles" in their brains -- a strong marker for Alzheimer's -- than people who had not taken the medications.

More information

For additional information on post-stroke recovery and treatment, visit the National Stroke Association.