In the new study, researchers examined the electronic medical records of over 38,000 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in the United States between January and September 2020.
This was before the COVID-19 vaccines were authorized in the country by the Food and Drug Administration.
Of the patients included in the study, 30% regularly used statins as a treatment for high cholesterol.
The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends statins for adults aged 40 to 75 years with certain risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Between 2017 to 2020, an estimated 45% of eligible Americans Trusted Source 40 years and older used a statin.
By examining patients’ medical records, the authors of the new study found that statin users were 37% less likely to die from COVID-19 compared to people who didn’t use statins.
In addition, regular statin users were less likely to be discharged to hospice, be admitted to the intensive care unit or develop blood clots. They also spent less time in the hospital and less time on a ventilator helping them breathe.
New Guidelines Recommend These Weight Loss Drugs For People With Obesity
“Our results suggest statins could be an additional cost-effective solution against COVID-19 disease severity and should be studied further,” study author Dr. Ettore Crimi, professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, said in a news release.
The study was presented Oct. 22 at the 2022 American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting. It has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Several mechanisms have been proposed for how statins might reduce COVID-19 severity and risk of death.
Statins have anti-inflammatory effects on the body. This may be helpful during COVID-19, which can cause severe inflammation that damages organs and the lining of the blood vessels.
These drugs may also block the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from infecting cells in the body.
However, statins likely benefit COVID-19 patients the same way they benefit people without COVID-19.
“Mostly, I think [statins] work by stabilizing atherosclerotic plaques that are more likely to cause heart attacks or strokes, reducing the risk of those complications,” said Dr. Matthew S. Durstenfeld, a cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
