Abstract: Abstract:Objective To analyze the influence of different doses of atorvastatin on carotid atherosclerosis and ischemic stroke in Chinese and to find safe and effective dose of atorvastatin to prevent ischemic stroke preferably for Chinese population. Methods PubMed，Medline，CNKI，VIP Chinese Science and Technology Journals were used to search randomized controlled trails(RCTs) about  atovastatin on anti-atherosclerosis and stroke prevention   from 1990 to 2011 by computer.The Meta-analysis evaluation software Revman 5.0 was applied，and some indicators were calculated by SPSS 13.0.The changes of intima-media thickness(IMT) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol(LDL-C),recurrence of ischemic stroke and side effects after treated with different doses of atorvastatin were compared with Meta-analysis. Results 10  and 20 mg atovastatin were widely used by Chinese.Comparative research on megadose atovastatin was still not fully enough.Meta-analysis showed that 20 mg atovastatin was more effective than 10 mg(P＜0.05) in the aspects of anti-atherosclerosis，and the change of IMT in 20 mg atovastatin group was better than 10 mg group,MD=－0.21,95%CI ［－0.25，－0.17］,and the LDL-C level in 20 mg group was lower than that in 10 mg group,MD=0.52，95%CI［0.44，0.61］.At the same time there were no significant differences on adverse effects between two groups.Conclusion 20 mg atovastatin is more better than 10 mg on the changes of IMT,and reduction of LDL-C.There is no difference in adverse effects between 20  and 10 mg atovastatin.

Key words: atorvastatin, carotid atherosclerosis, ischemic stroke