Treatment with statins and ischemic stroke severity: does the dose matter?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of pretreatment with statins at high doses (40 mg of rosuvastatin or 80 mg of any other statin) and low to moderate doses (<40 mg of rosuvastatin or <80 mg of any other statin) on ischemic stroke (IS) severity in clinical practice.

METHODS: Observational study of IS admissions to our stroke unit over a 3-year period (2008-2010). Mild stroke severity was defined as NIH Stroke Scale score ≤5 on admission. Multivariable regression models and matched propensity score analyses were used to quantify the association of statin pretreatment at high and low to moderate doses with mild stroke severity.

RESULTS: Of the 969 IS patients, 23% were taking low to moderate doses and 4.1% were taking high doses of statins prior to the stroke. Statins were associated with lower NIHSS scores on admission (median [interquartile range] 4 [9] for nonstatin patients, 4 [9] for low to moderate doses of statins, and 2 [4] for high doses of statins; p = 0.010). After multivariable adjustment, pretreatment with statins was associated with a higher probability of mild stroke severity in the unmatched analysis (odds ratio [OR] = 1.637, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.156-2.319 for the low to moderate doses and OR = 3.297, 95% CI 1.480-7.345 for the high doses of statins) as well as in the propensity score matched analysis (OR = 2.023, 95% CI 1.248-3.281 for the low to moderate doses and OR = 3.502, 95% CI 1.477-8.300 for the high doses of statins).

CONCLUSION: Pretreatment with statins is associated with lower stroke severity, at high as well as at low to moderate doses.