Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Also Help the Brain

Risk of severe kind of stroke lessened, say researchers

By Amanda Gardner
HealthScoutNews Reporter

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TUESDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthScoutNews) -- Researchers in Cincinnati have found more evidence that what's good for your heart is also good for your brain.

Scientists have long noticed that people with low cholesterol seem to have a higher risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), or bleeding into the brain, the most severe kind of stroke. It is fatal in 40 percent to 50 percent of cases.

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The question for the researchers was: Do people taking cholesterol-lowering drugs to lessen their risk of clogged arteries and heart attack have the same risk?

University of Cincinnati researchers compared the medication histories of 190 patients who had suffered ICH and 370 control subjects who had not had this type of stroke. The results, which are being presented today at the American Neurological Association's annual meeting in Chicago, show that cholesterol-lowering drugs did not increase the risk of ICH. What's more, patients on cholesterol-lowering medications seemed to have a lower risk of stroke. "The drugs maintained the relative protective levels of having high cholesterol," says lead study author Dr. Daniel Woo, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

The results back up some previous research and so are not overly surprising, says Dr. Lawrence Brass, spokesman for the National Stroke Association and professor of neurology at Yale University School of Medicine. Nevertheless, he says, "It's reassuring that in actual practice these drugs are as safe as they've appeared in clinical trials, and this is especially important with new, more stringent guidelines for cholesterol."

Previous studies showing similar findings were conducted in specialized settings with the subjects recruited for each study. The latest research looked at "regular" people drawn from an actual medical practice, Brass says.

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