Impact of Dyslipidemia on Ischemic Stroke

High cholesterol and lipids, especially low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the blood are associated with a higher risk of vascular events including stroke and myocardial infarction. In addition to therapeutic lifestyle changes, treatment with an HMG coenzyme-A reductase inhibitor (statin) medication is recommended for the primary prevention of ischemic stroke in patients estimated to have a high risk for cardiovascular events. Aggressive reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is likely to yield greater benefit than more modest reductions. Epidemiological evidence has suggested that high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are inversely correlated with stroke risk. Nevertheless, direct evidence for the clinical benefit of elevating HDL-C is scarce, because the efficacy of lipid-modifying drugs that raise HDL-C levels had not been directly assessed in large-scale clinical trials in stroke patients.