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Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug, could
reduce the risk of a second stroke and stroke-related
death. | BEIJING, Aug.
10 (Xinhuanet) -- Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug, could reduce the risk of
a second stroke and stroke-related death, according to a study paid for by the
drug's maker, Pfizer Inc.
The research, published in this week's New England
Journal of Medicine, found that the drug, one of a class of cholesterol fighting
drugs known as statins, cut the overall risk of another stroke by about 16
percent over five years.
It also reduced the risk of coronary events, such as
heart attacks, by 35 per cent in the trial by the Rosalind Franklin University
of Medicine and Science in Chicago.
Researchers found that 218 of the 2,365 patients who
took Lipitor developed an ischemic stroke, where blood flow to the brain is
blocked. At the same time, 274 patients of the 2,366 patients who took the
placebo developed the stroke.
Doctors involved in the trial said that the findings
were likely to change the way patients were treated after a stroke. Up to 40
percent of people who have a stroke will have a second within five years. Often,
the second is worse, resulting in death or disablement.
Stroke is the third largest cause of death in the
United States, ranking behind diseases of the heart and cancer. It is a disorder
in which the arteries to the brain become blocked or rupture, resulting in death
of the brain tissue.Enditem
(Agencies)
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