Long-term improvement in outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage in patients treated with statins

Abstract

Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a severe type of stroke for which there is currently no specific medical therapy. We hypothesized that statins reduce immediate inflammatory injury and improve long-term recovery from increased neurogenesis and angiogenesis. We conducted a large retrospective cohort study to assess the influence of statin therapy on patient death and disability at 12 months after ICH.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database at a tertiary care medical center. Patients were grouped based on statin use, and poor outcome was assessed as dead or alive with dependency (modified Barthel Index≤14).

Results: We compared outcomes in 190 patients exposed to statins to 236 patients who were not exposed to statins. Univariate analysis found that statin use was associated with decreased mortality in-hospital and at 12 months (P=.001). Multivariable analysis found that statin use was associated with a decreased odds of death or disability at 12 months after ICH (odds ratio 0.44; 95% confidence interval 0.21-0.95).

Conclusions: Statin use is associated with improved long-term outcome at 12 months after ICH. This finding supports previous clinical studies that have shown the short-term benefits of statin therapy. In addition, this study correlates with animal studies supporting the possible long-term recovery benefits of statins.

Keywords: Clinical neurology; cohort studies; intracerebral hemorrhage; medical care; outcome research; statin.