Prescription of four cardiovascular medications reduced the risk of all-cause mortality by 39% (HR 0.61) compared to monotherapy in patients following an incident ischemic stroke or TIA.
Cohort (n=52,619)
Does combination therapy with multiple cardiovascular medications reduce all-cause mortality in patients with incident ischemic stroke or TIA compared to monotherapy?
Combination therapy with four or five cardiovascular medication classes (specifically APAs, LRMs, ACEIs/ARBs, and CCBs) is associated with the lowest risk of long-term all-cause mortality after an incident ischemic stroke or TIA.
Hazard Ratio: 0.61 (95% CI 0.56–0.67)
BACKGROUND: To manage the risk factors and to improve clinical outcomes, patients with stroke commonly receive multiple cardiovascular medications. However, there is a lack of evidence on the optimum combination of medication therapy in the primary care setting after ischemic stroke. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of multiple cardiovascular medications on long-term survival after an incident stroke event (ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA)). METHODS: This study consisted of 52,619 patients aged 45 and above with an incident stroke event between 2007 and 2016 in The Health Improvement Network database. We estimated the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with multiple cardiovascular medications versus monotherapy using a marginal structural model. RESULTS: During an average follow-up of 3.6 years, there were 9230 deaths (7635 in multiple cardiovascular medication groups and 1595 in the monotherapy group). Compared with patients prescribed monotherapy only, the HRs of mortality were 0.82 (95% CI 0.75-0.89) for two medications, 0.65 (0.59-0.70) for three medications, 0.61 (0.56-0.67) for four medications, 0.60 (0.54-0.66) for five medications and 0.66 (0.59-0.74) for ≥ six medications. Patients with any four classes of antiplatelet agents (APAs), lipid-regulating medications (LRMs), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs)/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), beta-blockers, diuretics and calcium channel blockers (CCBs) had the lowest risk of mortality (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.46-0.57) versus any one class. The combination containing APAs, LRMs, ACEIs/ARBs and CCBs was associated with a 61% (95% CI 53-68%) lower risk of mortality compared with APAs alone. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that combination therapy of four or five cardiovascular medications may be optimal to improve long-term survival after incident ischemic stroke or TIA. APAs, LRMs, ACEIs/ARBs and CCBs were the optimal constituents of combination therapy in the present study.
Ma et al. (Wed,) conducted a cohort in Incident ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (n=52,619). Multiple cardiovascular medications vs. Monotherapy was evaluated on All-cause mortality (HR 0.61, 95% CI 0.56-0.67). Prescription of four cardiovascular medications reduced the risk of all-cause mortality by 39% (HR 0.61) compared to monotherapy in patients following an incident ischemic stroke or TIA.