Many stroke patients are not receiving medication recommended by the American Heart Association, the organization reports. 

For patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attacks (“mini-stroke”), the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association recommends statin therapy to reduce the risk of recurrent stroke and other cardiovascular events. Statins are the only cholesterol-lowering drug class that have been shown to reduce the risk of recurrent stroke.

Compared to other areas, death from stroke is more common in the southeastern United States — the so-called Stroke Belt — of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Previous studies have shown, however, that statin prescriptions are lower among stroke patients discharged in the south and among blacks, women and older patients.

To evaluate the magnitude of these differences by age, sex, and race inside and outside of the Stroke Belt, researchers in a new study compared statin use between different groups of patients with ischemic stroke, both in and outside the Stroke Belt.

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