The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Saturday 5 January 2013

Statin use associated with increased risk of brain hemorrhage after stroke treatment

This study was published in Stroke 2009 May;40(5):1729-37
 
Study title and authors:
Prior statin use, intracranial hemorrhage, and outcome after intra-arterial thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke.
Meier N, Nedeltchev K, Brekenfeld C, Galimanis A, Fischer U, Findling O, Remonda L, Schroth G, Mattle HP, Arnold M.
Department of Neurology, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern and University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
 
This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19265056

Ischemic stroke occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked. Intra-arterial thrombolysis is a medical intervention that breaks down the blockages by pharmacological means. A complication of intra-arterial thrombolysis is intracranial (brain) hemorrhage.

The study evaluated the influence of statin pretreatment and cholesterol levels on the incidence of intracranial hemorrhage in 311 patients with acute ischemic stroke receiving intra-arterial thrombolysis treatment.

The study found:
(a) The cholesterol levels of patients who had an intracranial hemorrhage were 2.5% lower than patients who did not have an intracranial hemorrhage.
(b) Statin uses had a 210% increased risk of an intracranial hemorrhage compared to nonusers.
(c) Three months after their stroke, statin users had a 59% increased risk of death compared to nonusers.

The study shows that prior statin use is associated with a higher frequency of intracranial hemorrhage after intra-arterial thrombolysis treatment for ischemic stroke.