This cholesterol-lowering medication may lessen the severity of Covid
A study published in London found that statin treatment, which is commonly used to lower cholesterol levels, reduced COVID-19 mortality by a small amount.
Statins are a commonly used and recommended intervention for preventing cardiovascular events by lowering blood levels of lipoprotein cholesterol.
To understand the link, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden followed 9,63,876 residents of Stockholm above the age of 45 between March and November 2020
According to the findings published in PLOS Medicine, statin treatment was associated with a slightly lower risk of dying from COVID-19, a correlation that did not differ significantly across risk groups.
“Our findings suggest that statin therapy may have a modest prophylactic effect on COVID-19 mortality,” said Rita Bergqvist, a medical student at Karolinska Institutet.
“Overall, our findings support the continued use of statins for conditions such as cardiovascular disease and high levels of blood lipids in accordance with current recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Viktor Ahlqvist, a doctoral student at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Global Public Health.
However, the researchers stated that this finding requires confirmation through randomised clinical trials.
The role of hyperinflammation and hypercoagulability in the development of severe COVID-19 disease and complications has been identified. As a result, drugs that modulate the host immune response while also inhibiting thrombosis and vascular dysfunction have received a lot of attention.
Hyperinflammation is defined as uncontrolled, self-perpetuating, and tissue-damaging inflammatory activity, whereas hypercoagulability is defined as the proclivity to thrombosis due to certain inherited and/or acquired molecular defects.
One study limitation is the use of prescription data without the ability to check individual drug use.The researchers were also not able to control for risk factors such as smoking and high Body Mass Index, only diagnosed health status.
