Statin use lowers the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 by 30%
Statin use provides significant value for COVID-19 patients, according to new findings published in the American Journal of Cardiology.
The study’s authors noted that “two opposing views” exist regarding statin use and COVID-19. One view is that the drugs could make the patient’s prognosis work, as they have done with other coronavirus infections in the past. The other view, meanwhile, is that they help protect the lungs from more serious harm.
To try and learn more about this important topic, the researchers explored published studies found in the the PubMed, Google Scholar and medRxiv databases through July 27, 2020.
“Each included article was independently evaluated by two authors who extracted the study characteristics and measures of effect,” wrote co-authors Chia Siang Kow, MPharm, of International Medical University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Syed Shahzad Hasan, PhD, of the University of Huddersfield in the U.K. “In case of discrepancies in data extraction, the consensus was achieved through discussion.”
The final cohort included four studies and nearly 9,000 COVID-19 patients. Overall, the findings suggested statin use was associated with a 30% drop in the risk of fatal or severe disease.
“Much is left to be determined on the regimen of statin [drugs] for the treatment of COVID-19, though available evidence suggests that statin therapy of moderate-to-high intensity could be effective,” the authors wrote. “Nevertheless, we await more data from prospective studies to substantiate our findings. Future well-designed randomized controlled trials are also needed to confirm the benefits of statins in COVID-19 patients.”
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.