Effects of Statins: Can They Reduce The Risk of Infection?
Statins are a commonly used medication to treat elevated cholesterol levels. They’re shown a variety of potential health benefits that extend beyond cholesterol lowering. Now, it appears they could lower the risk of infection. Here’s the story.
Statins have revolutionized the treatment of elevated cholesterol and made it possible for people with very high cholesterol levels to lower their risk of heart disease. The positive effects of statins also appears to be a lower risk of heart attack independent of cholesterol level which is believed to be related to their anti-inflammatory effect. Now it appears that there may be another benefit of statin therapy – a reduced risk of infection.
A New Benefit of Statin Therapy: What a New Study Shows
A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine looked at data from a variety of studies on the effects of statins and found that statin therapy may be beneficial for treating some infections and for preventing the development of new ones. These include serious infectious illnesses such as pneumonia. Even more importantly, they may reduce the risk of developing complications such as bloodstream infections which can be difficult to treat even with antibiotics. One large Dutch study that looked at almost 30,000 people hospitalized for pneumonia and found that they were a third less likely to die of the disease than those who weren’t taking statins. Also important was the fact that statins seem to offer some prevention against developing an infection in the first place.
Why Would Statin Therapy Prevent and Treat Infection?
The researchers emphasized that the exact mechanism isn’t known, but that statins have both anti-inflammatory and immune altering properties – both of which could account for their infection fighting capabilities. While there’s not enough evidence to support taking statin therapy for infection prevention, it may be an additional perk for those who already take these drugs for cholesterol lowering.
Other Potential Benefits of Statin Therapy
People who are using statin therapy for cholesterol may experience other health benefits including a decreased risk of not only heart attack, but stroke as well. Studies have also shown that overall mortality from all causes is reduced when people take statin medications.
The Drawbacks of Statin Therapy
With such impressive benefits, why isn’t everyone on a statin medication? As with most drugs, statin therapy is associated with a variety of side effects. One of the most common, and most annoying, is muscle pain and weakness. For most people this is more of a nuisance than a sign of serious problems; but a very small number of users will develop life threatening muscle injury related to a side effect called rhabdomyolysis, a condition that leads to muscle breakdown. Some people on statin therapy also develop liver inflammation and elevation in liver enzymes. Statins have also been studied to determine if they increase the risk of the serious neurological disorder ALS which, fortunately, has failed to show an association.
The Effects of Statins: The Bottom Line
As with most medications, use of statin therapy has both positives and negatives. There may be some additional health benefits for those who take them for elevated cholesterol levels, but not enough evidence to suggest that they’re safe for people with normal cholesterol levels.
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