Routine use of statins and increased COVID-19 related mortality in inpatients with type 2 diabetes: Results from the CORONADO study

Aim: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) represent a high-risk population for both cardiovascular diseases and severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Recent studies have reported interactions between statin treatment and COVID-19-related outcomes. The study reported here specifically assessed the association between routine statin use and COVID-19-related outcomes in inpatients with T2DM.

Methods: The Coronavirus-SARS-CoV-2 and Diabetes Outcomes (CORONADO) study was a nationwide observational study aiming to describe the phenotypic characteristics and prognosis of T2DM patients with COVID-19 admitted to 68 French hospitals between 10 March and 10 April 2020. The composite primary outcome comprised tracheal intubation and/or death within 7 and 28 days of admission. The association between statin use and outcomes was estimated by logistic regression analysis after applying inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) using a propensity score-weighting approach.

Results: Of the 2449 patients with T2DM (881 women, 1568 men; aged 70.9 ± 12.5 years) suitable for analysis, 1192 (49%) were using statin treatment before admission. In unadjusted analyses, patients using statins had rates of the primary outcome similar to those of non-users within both 7 (29.8% vs 27.0%, respectively; P = 0.1338) and 28 days (36.2% vs 33.8%, respectively; P = 0.2191) of admission. However, mortality rates were significantly higher in statin users within 7 (12.8% vs 9.8%, respectively; P = 0.02) and 28 days (23.9% vs 18.2%, respectively; P < 0.001). After applying IPTW, significant associations were observed with statin use and the primary outcome within 7 days (OR [95% CI]: 1.38 [1.04-1.83]) and with death within both 7 (OR [95% CI]: 1.74 [1.13-2.65]) and 28 days (OR [95% CI]: 1.46 [1.08-1.95]).

Conclusion: Routine statin treatment is significantly associated with increased mortality in T2DM patients hospitalized for COVID-19.