BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

• Statins may be able to mitigate myocardial injury and thrombotic events due to anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic properties
• Gupta et al. (Nature Communications, 2021) investigated the hypothesis that statins may mitigate adverse COVID-19 consequences

METHODS:

• Retrospective cohort study (between February 1st and May 12th, 2020)
• Participants
  • Hospitalized with COVID-19
• Exposures
  • Antecedent statin use
• Study design
  • Data derived from electronic medical record
  • A multivariable logistic regression model was used to predict the propensity of receiving statins, adjusting for baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and outpatient medications
• Primary outcome
  • In-hospital mortality within 30 days
• Secondary outcome
  • Invasive mechanical ventilation within 30 days of admission

RESULTS:

• 2626 total patients patients
  • Antecedent statin users: 36.2%
• 1296 patients ascertained for 1:1 propensity-score matching
  • 648 statin users | 648 non-statin users
• In the propensity-matched cohort, statin use was significantly associated with lower odds of in-hospital mortality within 30 days
  • Occurrence in statin users: 14.8%
  • Occurrence in non-statin users: 26.5%
  • Odds ratio 0.47 (95% CI, 0.36 to 0.62; p < 0.001)
• Patients on statins had
  • Lower WBC count at presentation: 7.6 vs 8.1; p < 0.01   
  • Lower CRP levels: 100.0 vs 120.7; p < 0.01
• No significant differences for the following additional outcomes
  • Invasive mechanical ventilation | Vasopressor use | Renal replacement therapy | Length of stay between the groups

CONCLUSION:

• Antecedent statin use among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 is associated with a reduction in in-hospital mortality
• The authors conclude

In this large analysis from a quaternary academic medical institution in an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, we demonstrated that antecedent statin use was associated with significantly lower rates of in-hospital mortality within 30 days

These results indicate the important need for randomized controlled trials evaluating the benefits of statin therapy in patients affected by COVID-19

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Association between antecedent statin use and decreased mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

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