Background: Analyses of the risks of stroke were conducted for subjects with and without diabetes, participating in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a perindopril-based blood pressure lowering regimen in 6105 people with prior stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA), followed for a median of 3.9 years.
Findings: Seven hundred and sixty-one patients had diabetes at baseline. Diabetes increased the risk of recurrent stroke by 35% (95% CI 10-65%) principally through an effect on ischaemic stroke (1.53, 95% CI 1.23-1.90). Active treatment reduced blood pressure by 9.5/4.6 mmHg in patients with diabetes and by 8.9/3.9 mmHg in patients without diabetes. The proportional risk reductions achieved for stroke in patients with diabetes, 38% (95% CI 8-58%), and patients without diabetes, 28% (95% CI 16-39%), were not significantly different (p homogeneity = 0.5). The absolute reduction in the risk of recurrent stroke in the patients with diabetes was equivalent to one stroke avoided among every 16 (95% CI 9-111) patients treated for 5 years.
Conclusions: Diabetes is an important risk factor for stroke in patients with established cerebrovascular disease. Treatment with the ACE inhibitor perindopril with discretionary use of the diuretic indapamide produced reductions in the risk of recurrent stroke in patients with diabetes that were at least as great as those achieved in patients without diabetes.