Statin Dose and the Risk of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND In the last 15 years, there has been considerable interest in statin use as a means to reduce the likelihood of vascular events. Several clinical trials have shown that high-dose statin (HDS) treatment could reduce vascular events. In high-risk populations, lipid treatment guidelines have generally suggested prescribing statin up to the highest recommended dosage. However, there remains concern about the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) with HDS treatment. METHODS This was a national population-based cohort study from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan extending from July 2001 to December 2008. Patients with cerebrovascular or cardiovascular disease were enrolled. The HDS group was defined as those patients receiving more than 420 mg per year of atorvastatin or an equivalent potency statin. Moderate dose statin group (MDS) was defined as those patients receiving atorvastatin in amounts between 196-420 mg per year or an equivalent potency statin. Low dose statin (LDS) group was defined as those receiving less than 196 mg per year of atorvastatin or an equivalent statin. The primary endpoint is ICH. The secondary endpoints are myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic stroke (IS) and new-onset DM (NDM). RESULTS A total of 5459 patients were enrolled in our study, with study participant ages ranging from 62.91 ± 11.85 years and a mean follow-up time of 2039 ± 6 days. After adjusting for age, gender, diabetes and hypertension, Cox regression analysis found ICH risk was lower in HDS and MDS groups compared with LDS (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26-0.91, p = 0.0246 and HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.24-0.86, p = 0.0157). The risk of IS is lower in patients with HDS treatment (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.55-0.83, p < 0.01). However, the risk of MI and NDM incidence are not statistically significant between the different dose groups. CONCLUSIONS In the real-world data provided by Taiwan's National Health Insurance research database, it was shown that patients who received a higher dose of statin had a reduced and not elevated risk of intracerebral hemorrhage. KEY WORDS High-dose statin; Hyperlipidemia; Intracerebral hemorrhage; Ischemic stroke; New-onset DM.