Prior use of statins and outcome in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage.
BACKGROUND
Pre-treatment with cholesterol lowering drugs of the statin family may exert protective effects in patients with ischaemic stroke and subarachnoid haemorrhage but their effects are not clear in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH).


METHODS
We recruited patients admitted to our University Hospital with an acute ICH and analysed pre-admission demographic variables, pre-morbid therapy, clinical and radiological prognostic markers and outcome variables including 90-day modified Rankin score and NIH stroke scale score (NIHSS).


RESULTS
We recruited 399 patients with ICH of which 101 (25%) were using statins. Statin users more often had vascular risk factors, had significantly lower haematoma volumes (P = 0.04) and had lower mortality rates compared with non-users (45.6% vs. 56.1%; P = 0.11). However, statin treatment did not have a statistically significant impact on mortality or functional outcome on multiple logistic regression analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with statins prior to ICH failed to show a significant impact on outcome in this analysis despite lower haematoma volumes.
Eichel
R
R
Department of Neurology, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
Khoury
S T
ST
Ben-Hur
T
T
Keidar
M
M
Paniri
R
R
Leker
R R
RR
D000368:Aged; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D015984:Causality; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015897:Comorbidity; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D006973:Hypertension / Q000401:mortality; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D000925:Anticoagulants; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors