Evidence for the efficacy of statins in animal stroke models: a meta‐analysis

Abstract

J. Neurochem. (2012) 122, 233–243. Abstract Protective effects of statins have been well documented for stroke therapy. Here, we used a systematic review and meta‐analysis to assess these evidences. We identified 190 studies using statin treatment in stroke animal models by electronic searching. From those, only studies describing ischemic occlusive stroke and reporting data on infarct volume and/or neurological outcome were included in the analysis (41 publications, 1882 animals). The global estimate effect was assessed by Weighted Mean Difference meta‐analysis. Statins reduced infarct volume by 25.12% (20.66%–29.58%, P < 0.001) and consistently, induced an improvement on neurological outcome (20.36% (14.17%–26.56%), P < 0.001). Stratified analysis showed that simvastatin had the greatest effect on infarct volume reduction (38.18%) and neurological improvement (22.94%), whereas bigger infarct reduction was observed giving the statin as a pre‐treatment (33.5%) compared with post‐treatment (16.02%). The use of pentobarbital sodium, the timing of statin administration, the statement of conflict of interest and the type of statin studied were found to be independent factors in the meta‐regression, indicating their influence on the results of studies examining statin treatment. In conclusion, this meta‐analysis provides further evidences of the efficacy of statins, supporting their potential use for human stroke therapy.

Impact of Statins on Cognitive Deficits in Adult Male Rodents after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review

“…The methodological quality of individual studies was assessed based on a checklist modified from the Collaborative Approach to Meta-Analysis and Review of Animal Data from Experimental Studies (CAMARADES) as previously described with minor modification [22, 23]. The checklist was comprised of 10 items: (1) peer reviewed publication; (2) presence of randomization of subjects into treatment groups; (3) assessment of dose-response relationship; (4) blinded assessment of behavioural outcome; (5) monitoring of physiological parameters such as body temperature; (6) calculation of necessary sample size to achieve sufficient power; (7) statement of compliance with animal welfare regulations; (8) avoidance of anaesthetic agents with marked intrinsic neuroprotective properties (e.g., ketamine); (9) statement of potential conflicts of interest; (10) use of a suitable animal model.…”

Cardiovascular pharmacotherapy: Innovation stuck in translation

“…However, in this case quality-score was negatively related to effect size (Baryan et al, 2012;Garcia-Bonilla et al, 2012). Matthan et al (2005) reported a meta-analysis on the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on cardiac arrhythmias .…”

Influence of Statin Pretreatment on Initial Neurological Severity and Short-Term Functional Outcome in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients: The Fukuoka Stroke Registry

“…However, there was no association between an initiation of statin treatment after stroke and functional outcome in our study, probably because that timing to initiate statin therapy after stroke would be varied among patients. Efficacy of statin treatment to reduce stroke size has been shown to decrease as delay in initiation of the treatment after stroke increases [36]. The effect of initiation of statin treatment after stroke could be explored by randomized trials with larger numbers of participants; however, this was beyond the scope of the current study.…”