Secondary-prevention drug prescription in the very elderly after ischemic stroke or TIA.

BACKGROUND

An age bias may exist in the prescription of important secondary-preventive therapies in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate patterns of drug prescription for cardiovascular prevention in the very elderly following hospitalization for an acute ischemic stroke or TIA.

METHODS

The authors compared subjects ages > or = 80 with those < 80 in the California Acute Stroke Prototype Registry to evaluate the impact of age on receipt of secondary-prevention medications at the time of hospital discharge. Prespecified secondary-prevention drug classes studied were antithrombotics, lipid-lowering agents, and antihypertensives.

RESULTS

Overall, there were 260 patients age > or = 80 and 534 age < 80 admitted with stroke or TIA during the study period. Patients > or = 80 years were less likely to receive actual treatment with antithrombotic medications (p = 0.002) and lipid-lowering medications (p = 0.005) but were more likely to receive antihypertensive medications (p = 0.0007) than their younger counterparts. With regard to optimal treatment (defined as receipt of, or a valid contraindication to, treatment in each category), those > or = 80 were equally likely to receive antithrombotic medications and lipid therapy but remained more likely to receive antihypertensive treatment (77.7 vs 67.0%; p = 0.0007). There were no differences in receipt of optimal combination therapy (defined as optimal treatment in all three therapeutic classes) between patient age groups, even when adjusted for medical history.

CONCLUSION

After hospitalization for stroke or TIA, no differences in overall optimal treatment prescription of secondary-prevention medications between patients ages > or = 80 and their younger counterparts were observed.