Patients with a common heart rhythm problem could lower their risk of stroke by taking cholesterol-lowering statins, even if they are already on blood thinners for that purpose, researchers reported at a medical meeting on Sunday.
Atrial fibrillation, which affects more than 40 million people worldwide, is linked with a five-fold increase in the risk of stroke.
The researchers studied more than 51,000 patients recently diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, including nearly 12,000 who received statins for at least 90 days within a year of developing the arrhythmia.
During follow-up for an average of five years after diagnosis, statin users had a 17% lower risk of a blood clot causing a stroke or other major problem, a 7% reduced risk of stroke due to bleeding in the brain, and a 15% lower risk of a mini-stroke, or transient ischemic attack, the researchers reported at the annual congress of the European Heart Rhythm Association in Barcelona.
Longer-term statin use was associated with even greater protection. Use for six years or longer was linked with a 43% lower risk of stroke or other major blood-clot related problem, a 44% reduced likelihood of stroke due to brain hemorrhage, and a 42% reduced risk of transient ischemic attack compared with those who took statins for 3-to-24 months.
The pattern was consistent regardless of whether or not patients were taking blood thinners, the researchers said.
Statins such as Lipitor and Crestor are among the most widely used medicines.
While this study cannot prove statins caused better outcomes, the results support their use in patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation, study leader Jiayi Huang of the University of Hong Kong said in a statement.
"The findings have important clinical implications particularly given that in atrial fibrillation patients, ischemic strokes are often fatal or disabling, and have a high risk of recurrence," she said.
