Background

We investigated evolocumab’s real-world effectiveness and safety on a background of statin therapy in the acute phase of ischemic stroke (IS) patients with a very high-risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).

Methods

A real-world, single-center, retrospective study was conducted in the neurology department at Tianjin Huanhu Hospital in China. Patients were divided into two groups: evolocumab treatment (140 mg every two weeks) or the standard of care (SOC) group. The primary efficacy outcome of the study was the achievement of a targeted lipid control rate and the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) by the end of the follow-up. MACE was defined as a composite of various cardiovascular events, cerebrovascular events such as stroke or TIA, and event-related deaths. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was utilized to account for confounding factors between groups. Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and COX regression modeling.

Results

1080 AIS patients with very high-risk ASCVD were recruited. After PSM, there were 528 individuals, with 206 in the evolocumab group and 322 in the SOC group. At 12 months of follow-up, the proportion of LDL-C < 1.4mmol/L and ≥ 50% reduction was 44.91% in the evolocumab group, compared with only 3.12% of SOC-treated patients (p < 0.01). The median follow-up time for clinical events was 15 months. The evolocumab group was associated with a lower risk of cerebrovascular events compared to the SOC group (HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.23–0.89; p = 0.02).

Conclusions

This real-world study suggested that evolocumab on a background of statin reduced the LDL-C levels significantly and lowered the incidence of recurrent cerebrovascular events in the very high-risk ASCVD patients with AIS in China.