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Rosuvastatin Nearly Cuts in Half Risk of Stroke: Presented at ISC

By Ed Susman

SAN DIEGO -- February 20, 2009 -- A refined analysis of a major clinical trial indicates that treating patients with the cholesterol-lowering agent rosuvastatin dramatically reduces the incidence of stroke among patients with high levels of C-reactive protein when compared with patients taking placebo.

Previously, results of the Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER) established that treatment with rosuvastatin 20 mg daily reduced the risk of a combination of cardiovascular events, including stroke.

"We now have conclusive evidence of the benefit of statins in stroke," said Robert Glynn, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, in a presentation here on February 19 at the International Stroke Conference (ISC) 2009.

JUPITER was a long-term, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, large-scale study of 17,802 patients that evaluated the effects of rosuvastatin in patients with relatively low levels of low-density lipoprotein and high levels of C-reactive protein. The majority of patients had at least 1 other risk factor including hypertension, family history of premature coronary heart disease, or smoking.

Men in the study were required to be at least 50 years of age; women were at least 60 years of age.

Patients in the study were randomised to rosuvastatin 20 mg daily or placebo with 8,901 patients in each arm of the trial.

But the study found a 1% absolute reduced risk of stroke among patients taking rosuvastatin, which amounted to a 48% reduction in stroke compared with patients taking placebo (P = .002).

Dr. Glynn said 33 patients on rosuvastatin experienced a stroke of any kind, compared with 64 patients on placebo; 30 of the stroke patients survived in the rosuvastatin patients compared with 58 on placebo.

There was no increase in the risk of haemorrhagic stroke (P = .44 vs placebo) in patients treated with rosuvastatin, with 6 patients in this arm having a haemorrhagic stroke compared with 9 patients in the placebo arm.

Dr. Glynn said that rosuvastatin 20 mg was well tolerated during the course of the JUPITER study.

"The findings were consistent in all subgroups evaluated," Dr. Glynn said, "with notable benefits in all subgroups, and no increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke."


[Presentation title: Rosuvastatin in the Prevention of Stroke Among Men and Women With Elevated Levels of C-Reactive Protein: The JUPITER Trial. Abstract 140]

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