Lipid-lowering agents used during the acute phase of ischemic stroke reduce in-hospital mortality and stroke severity, said Norina Allen, MPH, a doctoral candidate at Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

In her study, charts from 1,256 stroke patients at 32 medical centers were reviewed. In-hospital mortality was 1.0% among patients who were taking lipid-lowering agents, most often statins, within 48 hours of admission, compared with 5.3% among acute ischemic stroke patients who were not on lipid-lowering therapy, which corresponds to an 82% reduction with the use of lipid-lowering therapy. Furthermore, more patients on lipid-lowering therapy had mild events and fewer had severe events compared with those not on lipid-lowering therapy.

Thirty-day mortality was 0.79% in the lipid-lowering drug users compared with 2.05% in the nonusers, although this difference did not achieve statistical significance.

The need for detailed care programs once patients were discharged was also less among the patients on lipid-lowering agents, said Ms. Allen.