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A new study has shown that taking statins could help prevent people dying from pneumonia.
According to research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the risk of death in the six-month period after diagnosis of pneumonia was significantly lower among those already taking cholesterol-lowering drugs compared to those who were not.
It had been suggested in previous studies that statins could be linked with a more favourable outcome after bacterial infection.
The latest research, which is published in the medical journal BMJ, supports a potential protective effect of statins against mortality in patients with pneumonia.
But the scientists point out that, as they looked at patients who were already taking the medication when they developed pneumonia, a randomised clinical trial is needed to determine whether starting a statin at the time of diagnosis has a similar effect.
Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council, the team of epidemiologists used data from The Health Improvement Network (THIN), a database of computerised medical records of doctors’ practices in the UK, to identify statin users for the study.
They matched each statin user, aged over 40 at first prescription of a statin between 1995 and 2006, with up to five non-statin users.
Patients with a record of pneumonia were followed for six months to see if they died and the scientists found that 13% (109 out of 847) of statin users died compared with 20% (578 out of 2927) of non-statin users.
Lead author Dr Ian Douglas, lecturer in epidemiology at LSHTM, said: “Given the potential low number needed to treat to prevent a death suggested by this study, we believe that a strong case exists for randomised trials of statins in people with serious infection to determine if a simple and practical intervention at the point of diagnosis of pneumonia has a beneficial effect.”
Copyright © Press Association 2011
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
