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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Sep:110:374-381.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.08.004. Epub 2021 Aug 8.

Statins reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19: an updated meta-analysis of 147 824 patients

Carlos Diaz-Arocutipa  1 , Beatriz Melgar-Talavera  2 , Ángel Alvarado-Yarasca  3 , María M Saravia-Bartra  3 , Pedro Cazorla  4 , Iván Belzusarri  3 , Adrian V Hernandez  5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Statins reduce mortality in patients with COVID-19: an updated meta-analysis of 147 824 patients

Carlos Diaz-Arocutipa et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: There is conflicting evidence about the efficacy of statin use in regard to clinical outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to examine the effect of statin use on mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Methods: The electronic databases were searched, from inception to March 3, 2021. Unadjusted and adjusted effect estimates with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were pooled using random-effects models.

Results: Twenty-five cohort studies involving 147 824 patients were included. The mean age of the patients ranged from 44.9 to 70.9 years; 57% of patients were male and 43% were female. The use of statins was not associated with mortality when applying the unadjusted risk ratio (uRR 1.16, 95% CI 0.86-1.57; 19 studies). In contrast, meta-analyses of the adjusted odds ratio (aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.52-0.86; 11 studies) and adjusted hazard ratio (aHR 0.73, 95% CI 0.58-0.91; 10 studies) showed that statins were independently associated with a significant reduction in mortality. Subgroup analyses showed that only chronic use of statins significantly reduced mortality according to the adjusted models.

Conclusions: The use of statins was found to be associated with a lower risk of mortality in COVID-19 patients based on adjusted effects of cohort studies. However, randomized controlled trials are still needed to confirm these findings.

Keywords: COVID-19; Mortality; Statins; Systematic review.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot showing the unadjusted risk ratio between statin use and mortality in COVID-19 patients. (uRR, unadjusted risk ratio; CI, confidence interval.)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forest plot showing the adjusted odds ratio between statin use and mortality in COVID-19 patients. (aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot showing the adjusted hazard ratio between statin use and mortality in COVID-19 patients. (aHR, adjusted hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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