The study will be developing online tools highlighting the benefits and risks of different treatments to enable stroke patients to evaluate the treatment approach that suits them best.
The DCRI’s Adrian Hernandez, MD, has been named the principal investigator for a $2 million, three-year project to study the safety and long-term effectiveness of stroke therapies. It was one of 71 recent awards totaling more than $114 million from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
Dr. Hernandez’s study, Patient-Centered Research into Outcomes Stroke Patients Prefer and Effectiveness Research (PROSPER), will use data from the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines – Stroke registry combined with Medicare claims data to track long-term outcomes, as well as telephone interviews with patients after hospital discharge to track patient-reported outcomes.
Stroke remains the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and one of the leading causes of disability. A quarter of the people who have a stroke will experience another stroke. The common treatments for stroke include anticoagulants to prevent further blood clots, statins to lower cholesterol, and often antidepressants, since depression is relatively common among stroke patients and increases a patient’s risk of death. But limited data are available about the benefits and risks of these treatments in patients who are at least 65 years old, female patients, or minority patients.
PROSPER will compare the effectiveness and safety of warfarin (a common anticoagulant) versus no treatment and versus treatment with newer anticoagulants. It will take a similar approach for cholesterol medications, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of antidepressants in stroke patients. The primary outcome measurement will be the number of days that patients are alive and feeling well after being discharged from the hospital. The study will be developing online tools highlighting the benefits and risks of different treatments to enable stroke patients to evaluate the treatment approach that suits them best.
“This will be an incredible opportunity to leverage our research experience while working alongside patients to address the most important questions about stroke care and outcomes,” said Dr. Hernandez. “We hope this study will not only improve decision making for patients but also serve as a model for how the DCRI can conduct research in partnership with patients to answer the difficult questions they face every day.”
The DCRI’s Emily O’Brien and Ying Xian are co-investigators for PROSPER.
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