In addition to reducing the combined risk of cardiovascular events, losartan significantly reduced the risk of stroke among patients in the study. Losartan showed a 25 percent (p=0.001) reduction of stroke versus the existing standard of care (atenolol). Because the direct and indirect costs of stroke in the United States alone exceed $51 billion annually, these findings are important. When considered separately from other cardiovascular diseases, stroke ranks as the third leading cause of death, behind diseases of the heart and cancer. On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 53 seconds; every 3.1 minutes someone in the United States dies of one.

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