Statin Use Is Associated with a Decreased Risk of Mortality among Patients with COVID-19

Chieh-Chen Wu; An-Jen Lee; Chun-Hsien Su; Chu-Ya Huang; Md Mohaimenul Islam; Yung-Ching Weng

doi:10.3390/jcm10071450

Statin Use Is Associated with a Decreased Risk of Mortality among Patients with COVID-19

J Clin Med. 2021 Apr 1;10(7):1450. doi: 10.3390/jcm10071450.

Authors

Chieh-Chen Wu^{1

2}, An-Jen Lee^{1

3}, Chun-Hsien Su⁴, Chu-Ya Huang^{1

5}, Md Mohaimenul Islam⁶, Yung-Ching Weng¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Healthcare Information and Management, School of Health Technology, Ming Chuan University, Taipei 333, Taiwan.
² Department of Exercise and Health Promotion, College of Kinesiology and Health, Chinese Culture University, 55 Yangmingshan, Huagang Road, Shilin District, Taipei 11114, Taiwan.
³ Southeast Asian, Cross-Strait and Overseas Student Institute, Ming Chuan University, Taipei 333, Taiwan.
⁴ Graduate Institute of Sport Coaching Science, College of Kinesiology and Health, Chinese Culture University, Taipei 11114, Taiwan.
⁵ Taiwan College of Healthcare Executives, 9F No. 95, Sec. 3, Roosevelt Rd., Da'an District, Taipei City 106607, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: Recent epidemiological studies remain controversial regarding the association between statin use and reducing the risk of mortality among individuals with COVID-19.

Objective: The objective of this study was to clarify the association between statin use and the risk of mortality among patients with COVID-19.

Methods: We conducted a systematic articles search of online databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science) between 1 February 2020 and 20 February 2021, with no restriction on language. The following search terms were used: "Statins" and "COVID-19 mortality or COVID19 mortality or SARS-CoV-2 related mortality". Two authors individually examined all articles and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for study inclusion and exclusion. The overall risk ratio (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to show the strength of the association and the heterogeneity among the studies was presented Q and I² statistic.

Results: Twenty-eight studies were assessed for eligibility and 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. Statin use was associated with a significantly decreased risk of mortality among patients with COVID-19 (RR _adjusted = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.57-0.72, p < 0.001). Moreover, statin use both before and after the admission was associated with lowering the risk of mortality among the COVID-19 patients (RR _adjusted;_before = 0.69; 95% CI: 0.56-0.84, p < 0.001 and RR _adjusted;_after = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.54-0.60, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This comprehensive study showed that statin use is associated with a decreased risk of mortality among individuals with COVID-19. A randomized control trial is needed to confirm and refute the association between them.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; diabetes; mortality risk; statin.