Two Drugs Slash Risk of Stroke Recurrence

A landmark six-year study has discovered that two drugs for lowering blood pressure, even when administered to stroke patients who did not have high blood pressure, reduced the risk of further strokes and heart attacks by 25-50%. The results of the study, conducted by an independent group of medical researchers, were presented at the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) in Milan (Italy).

The study involved 6,000 high-risk stroke sufferers in 172 hospitals, who were treated with two blood-pressure drugs (perindopril and indapamide) over a period of five years. One in every ten (10%) avoided either death, heart attack, or further during that period. The drugs also reduced the risk of serious complications of stroke such as disability and dementia. According to world health statistics, about 20% of high-risk stroke patients suffer another stroke or heart attack within five years. More than two-thirds of all strokes occur in people who do not have high blood pressure as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Currently, blood pressure drugs are given mainly to a minority of people who suffer a stroke or transient ischemic attack. Aspirin is the only treatment given widely to patients after stroke, but it is not suitable for people who have suffered some particularly dangerous types of stroke, such as cerebral hemorrhage. In the study, perindopril, an ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitor, and indapamide together reduced the risk of stroke by 75% among patients who had previously suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.

"There is a strong case for making these drugs available to most stroke patients, irrespective of their age and blood pressure and irrespective of the other treatments they may be receiving,” said Professor Stephen MacMahon, of the University of Sydney (Australia), one of the study's organizers. "The benefits are unusually large and occur in a wide range of patients. There were very few side effects.”




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