In Hubei Province, China, the findings of a retrospective study conducted depicted that the use of statins appears to benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The study recruited 13,981 COVID-19 infected patients admitted to 21 hospitals.

Overall, a total of 1219 were given statins, 603 received statins plus other antihypertensives, and 319 received statins plus ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors or ARBs (angiotensin II receptor blockers). The mortality rates were estimated.

The secondary endpoints ascertained were the incidence of mechanical ventilation, ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome), ICU (intensive care unit) admission, and heart, hepatic, or renal impairment. Subset analyses were also performed since the majority of subjects receiving statins were geriatrics and had an elevated incidence of chronic diseases and lung lesions. The follow-up duration was 28 days.

The study findings illustrated that statin intake in COVID-19 patients was linked with a decline in mortality rate in comparison with non-statin intake. Similarly, when the patients were matched for baseline characteristics (age, disease severity, and pre-existing conditions), a lower mortality rate was also witnessed in patients who received statins compared with those who did not as depicted in the following table:

Additionally, statin use was found to be linked with diminished levels of inflammatory biomarkers, lower rates of ARDS (Acute respiratory distress syndrome), and ICU (intensive care unit) admission in the matched cohort.

The study results also illustrated that in the matched cohort, combination therapy of a statin plus an ACE inhibitor or ARB was not only linked with a lower mortality rate in comparison with the combination of a statin plus another antihypertensive agent, but also lower rates of heart injury and ARDS as depicted in the following table:

These differences were not witnessed in the unmatched sample. Considering the nature of such retrospective analysis, the results should be cautiously elucidated. However, these results yield evidence for the safety of statin or a combination of a statin with ACE inhibitors/ARB for the management of SARS-CoV-2 patients. Further randomized controlled trials are warranted to prospectively assess the efficacy of statins on COVID-19 outcomes.