Nifedipine Can Help Prevent Stroke

The calcium channel blocker nifedipine reduces the risk of stroke compared to placebo, according to the results of a three-year study of around 1,600 patients with high blood pressure. The study, conducted in Shanghai, showed that patients who took a twice-daily formulation of the drug had a 60% reduction in stroke, fewer heart attacks and arrhythmia and lower mortality than a placebo group.

The Shanghai Trial of Nifedipine in the Elderly (STONE) has now been published in the Journal of Hypertension. The data show that in this population nifedipine can reduce the risk of all the above events by 2.4 fold, stroke by 2.3 fold and severe arrhythmia by 6.8 fold.

Global Impact? Study co-author Pavel Hamet of the University of Montreal, Canada, said that the results have global significance, given the high disability, mortality and cost associated with hospitalization for stroke, and that these data were probably predictive of other demographic groups.