Dyslipidemia and stroke

Abstract

It has been established by epidemiologic studies that low LDL-cholesterol and high LDL-cholesterol levels are associated with hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, respectively. Statin treatment has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke by around 20% in both primary and secondary stroke prevention. Beneficial effect of statin was reduction of ischemic stroke and major vascular events. Furthermore, meta-analysis papers showed that LDL lowering with statin has no effect for the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage. Thus aggressive lipid lowering treatment may be recommended in patients with ischemic stroke, but target LDL-cholesterol level has not been established for secondary stroke prevention.