Statins “reduce Covid’s risk of death”: study found that cholesterol medications taken by eight million Britons reduce the chance of dying from the virus by 43% in hospital patients
- Statins fight “bad” blood cholesterol and are used by eight million Britons
- One study found that giving statins to Covid patients may reduce the risk of death
- The study was a review of 12 other studies on the effectiveness of statins in cutting coronavirus mortality
Cholesterol drugs taken by about eight million Britons may reduce the risk of death from coronavirus, a new study said.
Statins, taken to lower “bad” blood cholesterol, reduced mortality by 43 percent compared to non-statin users.
The British Heart Foundation claims that statins are normally prescribed more than 70 million times a year.
Now, a team has analyzed 12 studies on the drug’s effectiveness, which looked at 110,078 patients who died of coronavirus.
Statins, taken to lower “bad” blood cholesterol, reduced mortality by 43 percent compared to non-statin users
They found that administering statins to patients hospitalized in the early stages of Covid’s infection cut the death rate almost in half.
The tablets are taken once a day and come in brands like Lipitor, Lescol and Crestor.
It is proven to help protect cholesterol sufferers from heart attacks and strokes.
However, there is much debate about them, with side effects, including weight gain, muscle pain and liver damage.
Several studies have also been carried out to assess its effectiveness in the battle against Covid – with many drawing completely different conclusions.
The new study, however, saw a team from the Yale School of Public Health review all previous research, totaling 12 studies of more than 100,000 Covid deaths.
They found that people who took statins before contracting the coronavirus were not protected by the drug.
However, those who started taking them in the hospital during the early stages of the virus saw their risk of death drop by 43 percent.
Those who took statins after becoming seriously ill did not see the same drop in mortality.
The lead author, Dr. Lori Daniels, said: ‘We found that statins are not only safe, but also potentially protective against a serious Covid-19 infection.
“Statins can specifically inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection through their well-known anti-inflammatory effects and binding capabilities, as this can potentially halt the progression of the virus.”
Despite the study’s positive outlook, other research has come to a very different conclusion about the effectiveness of statins in combating Covid.
A study from France found in November that patients with type 2 diabetes and Covid had a higher risk of death if they were already taking statins.
About 12.8% died within a week and 23.9% within a month.
This compared with 9.8 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively, in the statin-free group.
The study authors concluded that their findings ‘did not support’ the role of statins as a preventive measure in these people.