Background and Purpose-Recent recommendations call for in-hospital initiation of lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) for most ischemic stroke (IS) and transient ischemic attack (TIA) survivors; however, little is known about actual use. This study describes use of and predictors for in-hospital lipid testing and LLT using data from a statewide stroke registry. Methods-In 2002, the registry ascertained cases from a stratified sample of 16 hospitals. This study includes only IS and TIA cases discharged alive. Results-In 1907 study subjects, 30.2% (27.2% to 33.5%) were on LLT at admission. In 1399 subjects not on LLT at admission, 37.2% (30.2% to 44.9%) underwent lipid testing, and 12.9% (7.2% to 22.1%) received LLT at discharge. Use of testing and LLT varied widely between hospitals (PϽ0.001). In-hospital lipid testing was positively associated with large teaching hospitals (Pϭ0.029), and neurologist or neurosurgeon (Pϭ0.004); and negatively associated with increasing age (Pϭ0.002), being female (Pϭ0.020), a previous medical history of atrial fibrillation (Pϭ0.002), nonambulatory status (Pϭ0.005), and poor prognosis (PϽ0.001). LLT at discharge was positively associated with a previous medical history of dyslipidemia (PϽ0.001), lipid testing (Pϭ0.004), and elevated low-density lipoprotein levels (PϽ0.001). Among subjects who were not on LLT at admission but who had Adult Treatment Panel III-based indications for use of LLT, only 31.2% (20.5% to 44.5%) received LLT at discharge.
Conclusions-Many
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.