Statin use associated with a 59% increased risk of kidney failure

This study was published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine 2016 Feb 23. pii: S0953-6205(16)00059-5

 

Study title and authors:

Association of statin use and the risk of end-stage renal disease: A nationwide Asian population-based case-control study.

Lin SY, Lin CL, Hsu WH, Lin CC, Chang CT, Kao CH.

Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taiwan; Division of Nephrology and Kidney Institute, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26920930

End-stage renal disease (ESRD), also called kidney failure, is the last stage of chronic kidney disease. When your kidneys fail, it means they have stopped working well enough for you to survive without dialysis or a kidney transplant.

This study investigated the association of statins with end-stage renal disease. The study included 11,486 patients with end-stage renal disease who were compared with the same number of people from the general population.

The study found:
(a) Statin users had a 59% increased risk of developing end-stage renal disease compared to non-users.
(b) The risk of end-stage renal disease increased with higher accumulative dosage of statins.

Lin concluded: "This population-based case-control study showed that statin use might be associated with increased ESRD risks."

Links to other studies:
Statin use is associated with a 30-36% increased incidence of acute and chronic kidney disease
Statins associated with 30% increased risk of death in kidney transplant patients
Statins increase the risk of diabetes in kidney transplant patients

Statins do not prevent cardiovascular and all-cause deaths

This paper was published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology Volume 7, Issue 3 , Pages 222-224, May 2013
 
Study title and authors:
Point: Why statins have failed to reduce mortality in just about anybody
Eddie Vos, Colin P. Rose, Pierre Biron
127 Courser Road, Sutton, QC, Canada J0E 2K0

Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3H 1V6

 

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.lipidjournal.com/article/S1933-2874(13)00052-4/abstract

 

This paper reviewed the scientific evidence regarding statins and death rates.

 

(i) In JUPITER (Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin trial), a trial involving 17,802 participants randomised to rosuvastatin or placebo found for all participants the cardiovascular mortality was not reduced.

(ii) All published trials with placebo controls conclusively establish that statins do not reduce mortality in women.

(iii) There are no mortality figures suggesting a positive effect for people taking statins for more than five or six years.

(iv) In the PROSPER (PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk) study, in patients older than 70 years of age, there appeared to be arising increased rate of cancer, which may indicate that longer intervals of statin therapy may have other costs in the elderly.

(v) For both genders, the lack of all-cause mortality benefit is also illustrated by all published studies using atorvastatin vs. placebo, including the summary of 49 in-house studies including 14,236 individual patients.

(vi) The secondary prevention study SPARCL (Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels) ended with five more deaths on highdose atorvastatin than on placebo.

(vii) To date, there are no placebo-controlled studies showing a mortality benefit when patients used lovastatin, fluvastatin, cerivastatin, or pitavastatin.

(viii) No mortality benefit from statins has ever been shown in patients older than 70 years of age.

(ix) No mortality benefit from statins has ever been shown in patients with heart failure.

(x) No mortality benefit from statins has ever been shown in patients with kidney failure.

(xi) Patients believing consciously or subliminally that ‘‘their cholesterol is under control’’ because they take a statin may postpone embarking on lifestyle changes, such as stopping smoking and abandoning eating habits that produce obesity and diabetes.

(xii) There is evidence that statins themselves promote diabetes, a life-long health risk.

 

Vos advises: "Because the lack of circulating statins is not the cause of atherosclerosis and their benefit on mortality is highly questionable, we should concentrate on lifestyle changes. Exercise, no smoking, and a healthy diet are well demonstrated in population studies to reduce the high mortality seen in so many economically developed countries".

 

He concludes that statins: "do not prevent cardiovascular and all-cause deaths".