Taking Statins Helps Survive COVID-19

As a means of preventing cardiovascular disease, statins are taken by about one in four people on Earth, and this is the most commonly prescribed type of drug in the world.

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As established by a group of researchers from several universities and medical centers in Catalonia (Spain), in addition to lowering blood cholesterol levels, statins have one more property that is very useful in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic – people who regularly take these drugs have a risk of death from coronavirus infection is reduced by 22-25%. Research results published in European Heart Journal — Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy.

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The study authors analyzed data on more than two thousand COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Catalonia between March and May 2020. The researchers compared the mortality rates among those who took statins and those who did not, and also evaluated the effect of stopping the use of these drugs after hospitalization.

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In order for the comparison results to be more adequate, the patients were divided into conditional groups – each of the groups included people of about the same age, the same sex, with approximately the same health condition before COVID-19, with a similar level of cholesterol, as well as with a similar picture. development and treatment of coronavirus infection.

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It turned out that the mortality rate among those who took statins is significantly lower than among those who did not (19.8% versus 25.4%, respectively).

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Overall, the mortality rate among those “statin” patients was reduced by 22%, meaning that taking these drugs prevents about one in five deaths among COVID-19 patients. And if you do not stop taking statins during hospitalization, then mortality falls by 25%, that is, statins can save every fourth life, the researchers emphasize.

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One of the indirect consequences of the pandemic was the refusal of some people from taking preventive drugs, which they previously took constantly to fight chronic diseases or to maintain health, the authors of the study note. Some doctors even recommend that patients do this, believing that prophylactic drugs can increase the negative effects of COVID-19. However, stopping the medication can only cause additional harm due to the emergence of possible complications and general deterioration in health, the researchers warn. “In any case, with regard to statins, the fear of a pandemic should not be the reason to stop taking these drugs,” the scientists conclude.

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