Eprosartan Prevents Secondary Stroke Better, Study Says

According to a study conducted at St. Josefs Hospital, Cloppenburg, Germany, the angiotensin receptor blocker eprosartan proved more effective at preventing secondary stroke in patients than the calcium antagonist nitrendipine, although the 2 showed equal effectiveness at reducing overall blood pressure. The study included 1405 patients who had suffered a transient ischemic attack or stroke in the past 2 years, and who randomly received both medications and were monitored for an average of 2.5 years.

In both groups, normotensive blood pressure readings were reached within 3 months of treatment. During the follow-up period, there were 461 cases of a cardiovascular or cerebrovascular event or death. Of those cases, 206 were from the eprosartan group, and 255 from the nitrendipine group. Analysis confirmed that eprosartan was associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular and recurrent cerebrovascular events than nitrendipine.