Statins may reduce rate of deaths caused by pneumonia

Use of statins can significantly reduce death caused by pneumonia, suggests a new study. The research that was conducted by epidemiologists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and published in the online edition of British Medical Journal, shows that patients who are on cholesterol-lowering statins have a reduced risk of death from pneumonia in a six-month period following diagnosis.

For the study, the team of researchers looked into data available from a computerized database of medical records of practices of UK doctors called The Health Improvement Network. This database helped the researchers to successfully identify statin users who were over 40 years of age at the time of their first prescription of statin during the period 1995-2006. For each such statin user up to five non-statin users were randomly selected for comparison.

Patients who had been diagnosed with pneumonia were then followed for a period of six months. The researchers found that the mortality rate in the group of statin users was 109 out of 847 (13%) while for non-statin users the mortality rate was 578 out of 2927 (20%).

The lead researcher, Dr. Ian Douglas, however points out that the results hold true for patients who were taking statins from before they were diagnosed with pneumonia. Hence it is still early to successfully conclude whether statins should be administered to patients after they develop pneumonia. He says, "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."

If the randomized trials proposed by Douglas also indicate reduced risk of death following use of statins then the findings of this study can be treated as a breakthrough as statins being cheap and relatively safe can serve as an easy intervention.

The statins used for the study included Pfizer's Lipitor and AstraZeneca's Crestor. It may be noted that Lipitor, Crestor as well as the generic equivalent of statins--simvastatin are extensively used to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol). LDL cholesterol is a prominent risk factor for heart diseases and by lowering its level statins serve as one of the most efficient drugs in the prevention of strokes and heart attacks.

The study in question was funded by the Welcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Earlier, another study had indicated that statins may play a positive role in the prevention of death caused by bacterial infections.