Common Medication Used to Reduce Cholesterol Levels May Reduce COVID-19 Severity

Persons using cholesterol-lowering medications, known as statins, were substantially less likely to die before COVID hospitalization, especially those with a history of heart disease or hypertension.

Common Medication Used to Reduce Cholesterol Levels

A 32% reduced chance of mortality for patients in the hospital for COVID with a history of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure was linked with the use of statins and antihypertensives. It is recommended to continue taking cholesterol and blood pressure medicines throughout age COVID-19.

Statins are often used to decrease blood cholesterol by inhibiting cholesterol-making liver enzymes. They have often prescribed: The Disease Control Centers estimate that 93% of those who take cholesterol-reducing medicines use a statin.

At the outset of the pandemic, there was much speculation around several medications affecting the body’s ACE2 receptor, including statins, and whether it could involve the risks of COVID-19.

Most people believe that statins might at that moment inhibit SARS-CoV-2 via their known anti-inflammatory effects and binding capacities that could potentially stop viral development. Using data from the COVID-19 Cardiovascular Disease Registry from the American Heart Association, the study team at UC San Diego has extended its initial results to a much larger cohort: over 10,000 COVID-19 hospitalization patients in the United States.

Specifically, researchers examined anonymized medical data at 104 different hospitals of 10,541 patients admitted to COVID-19 between January and September 2020.

These data have been used for more advanced analyzes; while we are attempting to monitor coexisting medical, socio-economic, and hospital factors, they confirmed the previous findings of reduced COVID-19 mortality risk with statins.

Daniels said it seems that the most significant advantage is for people with solid medical grounds, such as cardiovascular history or high blood pressure, to get statins. The study team stated that using statins or antihypertensive drugs in COVID-19 hospital patients with a history of cardiovascular disease or hypertension had a 32 percent decreased chance of mortality.

The research used statistical matching methods to evaluate results with comparable individuals for patients who took statins or antihypertensive medicine.

In addition, people have performed more complex analyses utilizing this data while monitoring coexisting medical, socio-economic, and hospital factors. The study has also confirmed that the previous findings that statins were associated with a reduced risk of COVID-19 death among COVID-19 patients.

The ACE2 Receptor

The ACE2 receptor – the statin regulatory target – helps to regulate blood pressure. In 2020, SARS-CoV-2 viruses were shown to utilize mainly the same receptor to penetrate lung cells.

Researchers say that statins and anti-hypertension medicines stabilize the underlying illnesses they are prescribed for, making it more probable for people to recover from COVID-19.

Even though it is difficult to say with certainty, as in any observational study, that the associations between statin use and reduced severity of COVID-19 infection are due to the statins themselves, there is strong evidence to suggest that they may play a role in significantly decreasing a patient’s risk of death from COVID-19.

The first research contained 170 medical data anonymized by UC San Diego Health patients. Researchers showed that using COVID-19 before hospital admission led to a decrease of more than 50 percent in the risk of severe infection.

The COVID-19 Cardiovascular Disease Registry of the American Heart Association has de-identified medical data on COVID-19 patients at over 140 partner institutions across the US. Data from more than 49,000 patient records were submitted to the platform by July 2021.