Statin therapy and reduced risk of pneumonia in patients with diabetes

Ewoudt MW van de Garde ^1*, Eelko Hak ², Patrick C Souverein ¹, Arno W Hoes ², Jules MM van den Bosch ³ and Hubert GM Leufkens ¹

¹ Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Netherlands
² University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands
³ St. Antonius Hospital, Netherlands

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: e.m.w.vandegarde{at}pharm.uu.nl.

Accepted 21 June 2006

Abstract

Background: Recent prognostic studies showed that prior statin therapy is associated with better outcome in patients hospitalized for pneumonia. Because of an increased risk of pneumonia in patients with diabetes we aimed to assess the effects of statin use on the occurrence of pneumonia in adult diabetic patients.

Methods: We included all patients with a diagnosis of diabetes (both type 1 and type 2) enlisted in the U.K. General Practice Research Database between 1/6/1987 and 21/1/2001. A case-control study was performed with cases defined as patients with a first recorded diagnosis of pneumonia. For each case, up to 4 controls were matched by age, gender, practice, and index date. Patients were classified as current user when the index date was between start and end date of statin therapy. Conditional multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the strength of the association between statin therapy and pneumonia occurrence.

Results: Statins were used in 1.1% of 4,719 cases and in 2.1% of 15,322 matched controls (crude OR: 0.51, 95% CI 0.37-0.68). After adjusting for potential confounders, statin therapy was associated with a significant reduction in pneumonia risk (adjusted OR: 0.49, 95% CI 0.35-0.69). The association was consistent among relevant subgroups (cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases) and independent of use of other prescription drugs.

Discussion: Use of statins was associated with a considerable reduction in pneumonia risk in diabetic patients and may apart from cardiovascular risk lowering properties be useful in prevention of respiratory infections.

Keywords: epidemiology, pneumonia, prevention, statins

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