Anti-Cholesterol Drug Found to Cut Risk of Stroke in Some Patients

Taking the anti-cholesterol drug pravastatin (Pravachol) may do more than ward off a heart attack, according to a study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine. For people known to have heart disease, it may also help cut the risk of stroke by 19%, according to a New Zealand study. Previous research suggested cholesterol levels do not affect the likelihood of a stroke, which is the second-leading cause of death in the United States.

But the study of 9,014 people who had survived a heart attack or had a history of unstable angina found that 3.7% of the pravastatin recipients subsequently developed strokes, compared with 4.5% of the volunteers given placebos, according to a team led by Dr. Harvey White of Green Lane Hospital in Auckland,.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II