There is an association between taking statins (lipid lowering drugs), and reduced risk of developing the chronic inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis. These are the findings of a study by Gabriel Chodick and colleagues, published in this week’s PLoS Medicine.
The researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study among the 1.8-million members of Maccabi Healthcare Services (a health maintenance organization [HMO]) in Israel to identify adults who regularly took statins and did not have rheumatoid arthritis. Using Maccabi’s large automated datasets, the researchers then analyzed diagnostic codes to assess the incidence of newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis in this group between 1998 and 2007. To assess any potential bias, the researchers also examined any possible association between persistent statin use and the development of osteoarthritis, a common degenerative joint disease that is unlikely to be affected by statin use.
Statins have been hailed as a “wonder drug”
During the study follow-up period, there were 2,578 incident cases of rheumatoid arthritis and 17,878 incident cases of osteoarthritis. The unadjusted rate of rheumatoid arthritis among patients who did not persistently take statins was 51% higher than that of patients who used statins for at least 80% of the follow-up period. After adjusting for other possible confounders, patients who persistently took statins had a lower risk (risk ratio of 0.58) of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared with patients who did not persistently take statins. There was only a small short term decrease in risk ratio in patients taking statins and the development of osteoarthritis. (hazard ratio of 0.85)
This work needs to be confirmed in other populations before its clinical significance, if any, is clear. As the authors conclude: “Larger, systematic, controlled, prospective studies with high efficacy statins, particularly in younger adults who are at increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis, are needed to confirm these findings and to clarify the exact nature of the biological relationship between adherence to statin therapy and the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis.”
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A new study has found that first few months of starting cholesterol-lowering drugs statins can still reduce the likelihood of severe chest pain when the risk of cardiovascular events is the highest.
“Our findings suggest that there probably is a benefit with statin treatment early on, although it is small, and we know that it accumulates with time. And patients can be assured that serious side effects are very rare,” said Matthias Briel, M.D, an assistant professor at McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada, and senior review author.
For the review, the authors pooled data from 18 randomized controlled trials on 14,303 patients, ages 53 to 69 and mostly male, who had been hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome.
Researchers assigned patients, who had not been taking statins previously, to groups who began treatment with one of these drugs within 14 days of admission to the hospital, or underwent treatment with placebo or usual care.
The reviewers found no statistically significant difference in the combined rates of death, heart attack or stroke one month or four months later, between patients given statins and those who received placebo or standard care.
However, patients on statins appeared slightly less likely to die or have heart attacks or strokes during this time.
They were also found less likely to suffer episodes of unstable angina four months after treatment began.
The study was recently published in The Cochrane Library, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration.
Patients taking cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins may be at lower risk for developing cancer, especially lung and colorectal cancers. However, it is unknown whether statins directly prevent cancer.Laboratory studies have shown that statins may inhibit cancer cell growth, but evidence from observational studies has been inconsistent.
To investigate the association between statin use and cancer incidence, Wildon Farwell, M.D., of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and colleagues collected data on patients in the VA healthcare system who were using statins and/or blood pressure-lowering medications.
Statin users had a reduced risk of all cancer types compared with non-statin users. The incidence of cancer was 9.4 percent among statin users and 13.2 percent among non-statin users.
“Our findings support the hypothesis that statins may reduce the risk of cancer, in particular lung and colorectal cancers. This relationship may be affected by the [statin dose],” the authors write.