Posts Tagged ‘Stroke’

Cholesterol-lowering drugs may help prevent stroke recurrence

May 26th, 2009 BMI

ST. PAUL, Minn. – People who take cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins after a stroke may be less likely to have another stroke later, according to research published in the May 26, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Those who take statins after a stroke may also be less likely to die within the next 10 years than those who do not take statins.

“Considering the large burden that stroke carries around the world, these potential benefits of statins are significant,” said study author Sotirios Giannopoulos, MD, DSc, of the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece. “Also, second strokes tend to result in more disability and longer time spent in hospitals than first strokes, so anything that can prevent these recurrent strokes is beneficial.”

The study involved 794 people who had strokes and had health information available for 10 years after the stroke. Researchers looked back at the records to see what factors affected the risk for having a second stroke or dying within 10 years after the stroke.

During that time, 112 people had a second stroke and 224 people died. Those who took statins were 35 percent less likely to have a second stroke and 57 percent less likely to die within 10 years than those who did not take statins.

About eight percent of those on statins had a second stroke, compared to 16 percent of those not taking statins.

Researchers analyzed other risk factors for stroke, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and heart problems, but found that statin use was the only factor tied to a reduced risk of recurrent stroke and death.

“It’s possible that effects from the drugs that are separate from their cholesterol-lowering effects are responsible for this result,” Giannopoulos said. “Statins have anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects and also prevent blood clotting and stabilize plaque in the arteries, so one of these mechanisms may help to prevent recurrent stroke.”

Source: American Academy of Neurology

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Stroke incidence declines among Swedish diabetics

May 15th, 2009 BMI

The incidence of strokes among diabetics in Northern Sweden declined between 1985 and 2003, according to a population-based study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers also found that survival rates improved leading to a rapid decline in the number of fatal events among diabetic people.

“Prior research has suggested that the trend in strokes was increasing, but our study shows declining incidence in stroke for non-diabetic men, both for first and recurrent stroke, and in recurrent strokes in non-diabetic women,” said Mats Eliasson, M.D., Ph.D., co-author of the study and a senior lecturer in the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University and the Department of Medicine at Sunderby Hospital in Luleå, Sweden.

The reasons for the overall decline of strokes among diabetics are uncertain. The decline may be the result of more intensive treatment of hypertension in diabetics and smoking cessation and cholesterol-lowering efforts, Eliasson said.

“The impressive decline in smoking and large decreases in cholesterol levels, and to a lesser degree blood pressure levels, in the population of northern Sweden may have contributed to the declining incidence in both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects over the study period,” he said. “On the other hand, we found more recurrent events among diabetic subjects than non-diabetic subjects, indicating a need for even more intensive secondary prevention among diabetic patients.”

Researchers examined data on 15,382 stroke patients, 35- to 74-years-old, who were part of the Northern Sweden MONICA (Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease) Project Stroke Registry, an international collaboration sponsored by the World Health Organization.

Over the 19 years, 11,605 subjects suffered a first stroke and 3,777 had a recurrent stroke. Twenty-two percent of the men and women had previously been diagnosed with diabetes. Although the total number of strokes per 100,000 in diabetics was significantly greater than in non-diabetics, researchers found no significant difference in the rate of decline over time and death rates between the two groups.

Among the major findings:

  • Diabetic women had a yearly decrease in incidence of first-ever stroke of 1.5 percent, while incidence remained unchanged over the observation period for non-diabetic women.
  • Non-diabetic men had a significant declining trend in incidence rates of first-ever stroke of .8 percent per year, while there was an insignificant decline in diabetic men.
  • All groups, except diabetic women with first-ever stroke, had a significant decline in deaths over time.
  • Incidence rates per 100,000 of all strokes among male diabetics fell from 1,961 to 1,815.
  • The incidence rates per 100,000 of all stroke in women fell from 1,921 to 1,176.
  • In non-diabetics, the incidence rates per 100,000 fell from 358 for men and 204 for women to 284 and 183, respectively.
  • For recurrent strokes, the decline was significant for all but diabetic men, with the greatest decline (5.4 percent a year) in diabetic women. Non-diabetic women showed a 2.7 percent yearly drop. Researchers found no apparent explanation for the gender differences. An earlier study in the United States didn’t find gender differences in care or treatment adherence between male and female diabetics.

“The fact that patients with diabetes, to a great extent, had favorable time trends similar to those of non-diabetics is particularly interesting considering that diabetic patients with heart attack, from the same population, did not show any positive trends over the 19-year study,” Eliasson said.

Control of hypertension may have a greater impact in stroke than in coronary heart disease, he said.

Source: American Heart Association

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Eating fish may prevent memory loss and stroke in old age

May 12th, 2009 BMI

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Eating tuna and other types of fish may help lower the risk of cognitive decline and stroke in healthy older adults, according to a study published in the August 5, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

For the study, 3,660 people age 65 and older underwent brain scans to detect silent brain infarcts, or small lesions in the brain that can cause loss of thinking skills, stroke or dementia. Scans were performed again five years later on 2,313 of the participants. The people involved in the study were also given questionnaires about fish in their diets.

The study found that people who ate broiled or baked tuna and other fish high in omega-3 fatty acids (called DHA and EPA) three times or more per week had a nearly 26 percent lower risk of having the silent brain lesions that can cause dementia and stroke compared to people who did not eat fish regularly. Eating just one serving of this type of fish per week led to a 13 percent lower risk. The study also found people who regularly ate these types of fish had fewer changes in the white matter in their brains.

“While eating tuna and other types of fish seems to help protect against memory loss and stroke, these results were not found in people who regularly ate fried fish,” said Jyrki Virtanen, PhD, RD, with the University of Kuopio in Finland. “More research is needed as to why these types of fish may have protective effects, but the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA would seem to have a major role.”

Types of fish that contain high levels of DHA and EPA nutrients include salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, and anchovies.

“Previous findings have shown that fish and fish oil can help prevent stroke, but this is one of the only studies that looks at fish’s effect on silent brain infarcts in healthy, older people,” said Virtanen. Research shows that silent brain infarcts, which are only detected by brain scans, are found in about 20 percent of otherwise healthy elderly people.

Source: American Academy of Neurology

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