CMAAO CORONA FACTS and MYTH COVID CDC Statins before admission

Author : Dr K Aggarwal, President CMAAO , with input from Dr Monica Vasudev

India

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New Delhi, September 25, 2020 :

Statin prior to hospital admission

1. Statin use during the 30 days prior to hospital admission for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was associated with a lower risk of developing severe disease, and a faster time to recovery among patients without severe COVID-19, according to a study published in The American Journal of Cardiology.
2.  The impact of statins, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) on COVID-19 severity and recovery is important given their high prevalence of use among individuals at risk for severe COVID-19
3. Researchers retrospectively analyzed electronic medical records of 170 patients with COVID-19 and 5,281 COVID-negative control patients hospitalized at University of California San Diego Health between February 10, 2020 and June 17, 2020. The primary exposures of interest were use of statins, ACE inhibitors, and ARBs within the 30 days prior to admission.
4. Among COVID-19 patients, 58% were male and the average age was 59 ± 19 years. Obesity was reported in 56% of patients, 44% had a history of hypertension, 21% had cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 20% had diabetes.
5.  The analysis found that 27% of patients with COVID-19 were actively taking statins on admission, while 21% were on ACE inhibitors and 12% on ARBs. Meanwhile, severe disease was reported in 90 (53%) COVID-19 patients, while 78 (46%) recovered and 2 (1%) had unresolved status at the time of analysis. Of the 90 patients with a severe outcome, there were 22 deaths. Among COVID-negative patients, 1278 (24%) had a severe outcome.
6.  The use of statins prior to admission was associated with reduced risk of severe COVID-19.
7. The use of ACE inhibitors  or ARBs were reported to be not significantly associated with risk of severe disease.
8.  Among COVID-negative inpatients, statins were associated with a 21% reduction in the adjusted odds of developing severe disease and they said there was evidence that this association was weaker than in COVID-positive inpatients.
9.  Statin use prior to admission was associated with a faster time to recovery among those without severe disease
10. Neither ARB use nor ACE inhibitor use was associated with increased rate of recovery.

Use of statins prior to admission was associated with a more than 50% reduction in risk of developing severe COVID-19 and with considerably faster time to recovery.

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