WEDNESDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- In the prevention of recurrent stroke, telmisartan is no more effective than placebo, and aspirin plus extended-release dipyridamole is similar to clopidogrel, according to the results of two studies published online Aug. 27 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In one study, Salim Yusuf, of Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues randomly assigned 20,332 patients to receive either telmisartan or placebo for 2.5 years. They found that telmisartan did not significantly reduce the rate of recurrent stroke, major cardiovascular events or diabetes.
In a second study, the same group of researchers randomly assigned 20,332 patients to receive aspirin plus extended-release dipyridamole or clopidogrel daily for 2.5 years. Because rates of recurrent stroke were similar in both groups, they found no evidence to show that either treatment was superior to the other in the prevention of recurrent strokes.
"The large number and international representation of patients, who were from 35 countries or regions, enhances the generalizability of our findings," the second study concludes. "These findings provide additional safety and efficacy data physicians need in making individual treatment decisions for prevention of recurrent stroke or the combined end point of stroke, myocardial infarction or death from vascular causes in their patients with stroke."
The studies were supported by Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer Schering Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline, and Micardis. Authors from both studies report financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.
Abstract - Yusuf
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Abstract - Sacco
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