Table 1.

Estimated impact of pharmaceutical interventions to prevent recurrent strokes in Scotland

Intervention	Number of Strokes avoided	% of all strokes in Scotland
Aspirin	926	(8%)
Statins to reduce cholesterol	854	(7%)
Drugs to reduce blood pressure	751	(6%)
Dipyridamole added to aspirin	432	(4%)
Anticoagulants	376	(3%)

Taken from Health in Scotland 2007, Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer, based on Table 18.4 in Warlow et al. [8]. The numbers in the table are derived from applying estimates from randomised trials and meta-analyses of the reduction in stroke risk achieved by adding each intervention sequentially to the previous one(s), assuming that these interventions are fully adhered to by all eligible patients with ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) in Scotland. Untreated recurrent stroke risks are derived from UK population-based stroke registry data.