Cholesterol Drugs May Block Strokes
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Drugs that lower cholesterol to help prevent heart attacks also may thwart the most common type of stroke, researchers said. Drugs such as Zocor and Pravachol reduced the risk of stroke by an estimated 27%, an analysis of 12 studies involving 19,518 patients with high cholesterol found. Researchers say the drugs, known as reductase inhibitors, may avert strokes by cleaning arteries, preventing their deterioration or forestalling heart attacks. The study, by researchers at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston Salem, N.C., is reported in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
