Objective: The pleiotropic effects of statins, 3-hydroxy-3 methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor, have been shown to modify inflammatory cell signaling on the immune response to infection. It was postulated that statins may be a good candidate as novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of sepsis. We investigated whether ongoing statin therapy is associated with mortality in patients with bloodstream infection.
Design: A retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Two tertiary hospitals in Bronx, NY.
Patients: Adult patients in the hospital with bloodstream infection and categorized according to statin therapy as an outpatient or inpatient before bacteremia.
Interventions: None.
Measurement and main results: Of 2,139 bacteremic hospitalized patients, 592 (28%) received statins before blood cultures and 677 (32%) died within 90 days. On multivariate adjustment, the association between statin therapy and 90-day all-cause mortality was statistically significant (hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-0.94), but statin users and nonusers differed significantly on many baseline clinical factors. Using the propensity score matched analysis to balance the differences between groups, the association was no longer significant (hazard ratio 0.99; 95% CI 0.77-1.25). Multivariate analysis after stratifying by decile in propensity score for statin use demonstrated similar results (hazard ratio 0.86; 95% CI 0.70-1.06). Statin use was not associated with reduced intensive care unit admission (odds ratio [OR], 0.86; 95% CI 0.59-1.26), hospital length of stay (β = -0.8 days; 95% CI -2.2 to 1.7 days), intensive care unit length of stay (β = -0.1 days; 95% CI -3.7 to 3.8 days), or need for mechanical or noninvasive ventilation (OR 1.03; 95% CI 0.70-1.51).
Conclusion: After adjusting for the propensity to receive statin therapy, no statistically significant association between statin therapy before bloodstream infection and survival was identified.