Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 18;21(1):52.
doi: 10.1186/s12950-024-00421-x.

Effect of statins on arterial wall inflammation as assessed by 18F-FDG PET CT: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Tannaz Jamialahmadi  1   2 , Željko Reiner  3   4 , Luis E Simental-Mendia  5 , Wael Almahmeed  6 , Sercan Karav  7 , Ali H Eid  8 , Francesco Giammarile  9 , Amirhossein Sahebkar  10   11   12
Affiliations

Effect of statins on arterial wall inflammation as assessed by 18F-FDG PET CT: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Tannaz Jamialahmadi et al. J Inflamm (Lond). .

Abstract

Background: Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is largely mediated by inflammatory process. Statins are lipid-lowering drugs which also have anti-inflammatory effects. 18 fluorine radiolabeled fluorodeoxyglucose (18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) is considered to be a good indicator of arterial wall inflammation. Therefore, in this meta-analysis the role of statins on inflammatory process in the artery wall was evaluated using this method since its actual validity for this purpose is not yet well established.

Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar databases were searched using MESH terms and keywords. Funnel plot, Begg's rank correlation, and Egger's weighted regression tests evaluated publication bias in the meta-analysis. In cases where funnel plot asymmetry was observed, the "trim and fill" method was used to check the input of potentially missing studies.

Results: Findings of 10 clinical trials involving 373 subjects showed a remarkable reduction of arterial wall 18 F-FDG uptake according to target-to-background ratio (TBR) index after treatment with statins. Subgroup analysis showed a significant decrease in TBR with high-intensity and non-significant reduction of TBR with low-to-moderate-intensity statin therapy.

Conclusion: Treatment with statins suppressed arterial wall inflammation as shown by using 18 F-FDG PET-CT.

Keywords: 18F-FDG PET-CT; Atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular disease; Inflammation; Statins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the number of studies selected for meta-analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Quantitative Data Synthesis (arterial wall uptake). A Effect of statin therapy on arterial wall FDG uptake. Forest plot shows weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals for the effect of statin administration on arterial wall FDG uptake based on whole vessel TBR index. 2 B leave-one-out sensitivity analysis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Effect of statin therapy on FDG uptake of the most diseased arterial segment (MDS). Forest plot displays weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals for the effect of statin administration on arterial wall FDG uptake based on the MDS of vessel TBR
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plot stratified according to the intensity of statin therapy
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The results of meta-regression analyses examining the associations between different potential confounders and changes in arterial wall TBR. The analysis investigated the relationship between (A) treatment duration, (B) alteration in circulating LDL-cholesterol, (C) plasma levels of C-reactive protein, (D) baseline TBR, and mean changes in arterial wall TBR index
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Funnel plot showing publication bias in the studies
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Reiner Ž. Statins in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Nat Reviews Cardiol. 2013;10(8):453–64. - PubMed
    1. Salami JA, et al. National trends in statin use and expenditures in the US adult population from 2002 to 2013: insights from the medical expenditure panel survey. JAMA Cardiol. 2017;2(1):56–65. - PubMed
    1. Cheung BM, et al. Meta-analysis of large randomized controlled trials to evaluate the impact of statins on cardiovascular outcomes. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2004;57(5):640–51. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amin F, et al. The role of statins in lung cancer. Archives Med Sci. 2022;18(1):141–52. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chamani S, et al. The effects of statins on the function and differentiation of blood cells. Archives Med Sci. 2023;19(5):1314–26. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources