Giving stroke patients high doses of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor can significantly reduce the risk of a second stroke, suggests new research.

Over a period of five years, their risk of an additional stroke was lowered by 16 percent, while their risk of major coronary events, such as heart attacks, cardiac death or resuscitated cardiac arrest, was lowered by 35 percent.

Results of the research, which was conducted at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago, are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study involved 2,365 participants who took Lipitor and 2,366 who took a placebo instead. Among those who received the drug, 218 ischemic strokes occurred. However, among those who took the placebo, there were 274 occurrences of ischemic stroke, an event that blocks blood flow to the brain.

Side effects of Lipitor, such as elevated liver enzymes, muscle weakness or rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle), occurred at a low rate among the patients who took the drug, according to Pfizer.

The research is significant, say physicians, because as many as 40 percent of stroke victims are likely to have a second stroke within five years. In many cases, the second stroke is more disabling -- even fatal.

Stroke ranks third behind heart disease and cancer as a cause of death in the United States. Risk factors for stroke include advanced age, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and smoking.