When you pop that anti-cholesterol pill in the morning, it might have an added benefit. New research shows that people who take statins have a substantially lower risk of in-hospital death from COVID-19.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego made that conclusion after analyzing the medical records of more than 10,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients nationwide.
Overall, those who used statins had a 41% lower risk of in-hospital death from COVID-19 compared with those who did not take the drug. People with a history of high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease also saw considerable benefits from statins: They had a 32% lower risk of death from COVID-19 than those who weren’t taking the medication.
To confirm their findings, the researchers used statistical matching to compare outcomes for statin users and non-users.
Statins are ubiquitous for people who take a cholesterol-reducing drug, accounting for 93% of all such prescriptions. They work by blocking the liver enzymes that produce cholesterol.
The researchers believe that statins’ beneficial effects in COVID-19 cases stem from their ability to control the diseases for which they’re prescribed. Some of those conditions, including high blood pressure and heart disease, increase the risk of dying from COVID-19.
In fact, the receptor protein that is targeted by statins is the same one that the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to invade lung cells. Among patients who received a statin medication prior to hospital admission for COVID-19, the risk of developing severe infection dropped by more than 50%.
So, take note statin users: There’s one more reason to keep taking your medicine.