Commonly used cholesterol-lowering statins may reduce the risk of death and the severity of the disease from COVID-19, according to a study of more than 38,000 patients presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Anesthesiology.

“While there is no ‘magic bullet’ to help patients who are severely ill with COVID-19, statins reduce inflammation, which may help reduce the severity of the disease,” said Ettore Crimi, MD, MBA, lead study author and professor of anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando. “The results of our study clearly showed that regular use of statins is associated with a reduced risk of death and improved outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.”

The retrospective study is one of the largest of the routine use of statins in patients with COVID-19. The researchers analyzed electronic medical records of 38,875 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in 185 hospitals in the United States between January 1 and September 30, 2020. Of these patients, 30% regularly used statins to treat high cholesterol. Statin users had a 37% lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than non-statin users. In addition, regular statin users were significantly less likely to be discharged to hospice, admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), or develop blood clots. They also had a shorter hospital stay and spent less time on a ventilator.

Although COVID-19 itself causes inflammation, in some cases immune system creates further inflammation by reacting too aggressively to the infection. This extreme reaction causes most of the damage to the body, including difficulty breathing and damage to the lungs, kidneys, heart, brain and vascular system. The anti-inflammatory effects of statins “cool down the process” so that the disease is not as severe, Dr. Crimi said.

One in four Americans over the age of 40 takes statins to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association, making them one of the most commonly prescribed drugs.

“This study demonstrates the importance of evaluating drugs that can be repurposed to help off-target patients,” said Dr. Crimi. “Our results suggest that statins may be an additional cost-effective solution against COVID-19 disease seriousness and should be studied further.”

Courtesy of the American Society of Anesthesiologists