Pravastatin Reduces the Risk of Atherothrombotic Stroke when Administered within Six Months of an Initial Stroke Event

AIMS: The J-STARS study examined whether pravastatin (10 mg/day) reduces recurrence of stroke in non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke patients who were enrolled within 1 month to 3 years after initial stroke events (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00221104). The main results showed that the frequency of atherothrombotic stroke was low in pravastatin-treated patients, although no effect of pravastatin was found for the other stroke subtypes. We evaluated differences of early (within 6 months) or late (after 6 months) pravastatin treatment benefits on the incidence of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), as well as atherothrombotic stroke and the other subtypes. METHODS: Subjects in the J-STARS study were classified into two cohorts, depending on whether they enrolled early (1 to 6 months) or late (6 months to 3 years) following initial stroke events. RESULTS: A total of 1578 patients (491 female, 66.2±8.5 years) were randomly assigned to either the pravastatin group (n=793; n=426 in the early cohort, n=367 in the late cohort) or the control group (n=785; n=417 in the early cohort, n=368 in the late cohort). During the follow-up of 4.9± 1.4 years, the rate of atherothrombotic stroke was lower in the pravastatin group compared to controls in the early cohort (0.24 vs. 0.88%/year, p=0.01) but not in the late cohort (0.17 vs. 0.39%/year, p=0.29). However, this difference of pravastatin effect on atherothrombotic stroke was not significantly interacted by the early or late cohort (p=0.59). The incidence rates of other stroke subtype were not different in between pravastatin and control groups despite the timing of entry. CONCLUSIONS: Pravastatin is likely to reduce atherothrombotic stroke in patients enrolled within 6 months after stroke onset. However, the clinical efficacy for prevention of recurrent stroke was not conclusive with earlier statin treatment.