Stroke victims taking statins have increased risk of death and a 140% increased risk of infection

This study was published in the European Journal of Neurology 2008 Jan;15(1):82-90

Study title and authors:
Simvastatin in the acute phase of ischemic stroke: a safety and efficacy pilot trial.

Montaner J, Chacón P, Krupinski J, Rubio F, Millán M, Molina CA, Hereu P, Quintana M, Alvarez-Sabín J.
Neurovascular Research Laboratory, Neurovascular Unit, Hospital Universitario Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain. 31862jmv@comb.es

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18070096

This study was a double-blind, randomised, multicentre clinical trial to study the effects of simvastatin in patients the first 90 days after a cortical stroke. The study included 60 patients with cortical strokes (a cortical stroke occurs when the blood supply to the outside, or cortex, of the brain is reduced or blocked, which results in brain damage) who were given either simvastatin or placebo at three to12 hours from symptom onset.

The study found:
(a) More patients taking simvastatin died compared to patients taking placebo.
(b) Patients taking simvastatin had a 140% increased risk of infection compared to patients taking placebo.

Links to other studies:
Patients taking statins after a stroke have a 68% increased risk of suffering another stroke
Statins increase the incidence of liver damage
Statins associated with increased bleeding in the brain in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage

Cardiac surgery patients taking statins have a 24% increased risk of death

This study was published in Clinical Infectious Diseases 2009 Apr 1;48(7):e66-72

Study title and authors:
Preoperative statin use and infection after cardiac surgery: a cohort study.

Mohamed R, McAlister FA, Pretorius V, Kapoor AS, Majumdar SR, Ross DB, Norris CM
Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19228110

This study explored the effects of preoperative statin use in adults who had undergone cardiac surgery. The study included 7,733 nontransplant cardiac surgery patients who were followed for 30 days.

The study found:
(a) Patients taking statins had a 24% increased risk of death compared to patients not taking statins.
(b) Patients taking statins had an 11% increased risk of death due to infection compared to patients not taking statins.
(c) Patients taking statins had an 8% increased risk of any infection compared to patients not taking statins.

 

 

Links to other studies:

Statin treatment increases the risk of death by 301% after balloon angioplasty

Statins should not be given to patients with heart failure

Statin use is associated with an 80% higher risk of multiple organ failure in severely injured blunt trauma patients

Statin users have a 13% increased incidence of common infections

This study was published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences 2014 Mar;347(3):211-6

Study title and authors:
The effect of statin therapy on the incidence of infections: a retrospective cohort analysis.

Magulick JP, Frei CR, Ali SK, Mortensen EM, Pugh MJ, Oramasionwu CU, Daniels KR, Mansi IA.
Department of Internal Medicine (JPM, SKA), San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23426088

The objective of the study was to compare the incidence of infections in statin users to that in nonusers. The six year study included 45,247 subjects.

The study found that statin users had a 13% increased incidence of common infections compared to nonusers.