According to a study published in the European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy, taking medications that lower cholesterol levels can lower the risk of dying from COVID-19 by as much as 25 percent.
Why do some people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have no symptoms, and others have a very hard time getting COVID-19? The course of the infection is influenced, among others, by age, comorbidities, or medications used - such data can be used to predict the risk of a severe course of COVID-19, but it cannot be estimated with 100% certainty how the disease will develop in a particular patient.
In a recent study, scientists from Universitat Rovira and Virgili (URV) in Reus, led by Luis Masana, analyzed data on 2,159 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave of the pandemic - from March to May.
Hundreds of clinical variables were taken into account, such as age, gender, medical history, cholesterol levels, COVID-19 medications, chronic disease medications, etc.
One of the drugs considered in this analysis were statins - cholesterol-lowering drugs used in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
As it turned out, among patients with COVID-19 not previously treated with statins, the death rate was 25.4%, while in the group treated with statins - 19.8%. The mathematical analysis shows that it was therefore 22 percent. lower.
"These data show thatstatin treatment can prevent a fifth of deaths ," said Luis Masana. Additionally, when treatment with these drugs was continued in hospital, the mortality rate was 25% lower. (i.e. by a quarter).
The scientist emphasized that the patients were compared with groups that were similar in terms of age, sex, and the presence of other diseases.
The observation of Luis Masana's syndrome is important becausestatins are one of the most commonly used drugs in the world .
The researcher points out that one of the indirect negative effects of the pandemic is that some people suffering from chronic diseases stop using the therapy. “Some doctors even recommended discontinuing certain medications, believing they could worsenthe condition of patients with COVID-19 "- he reminded.
It may also contribute to an increase in mortality from other medical conditions. "We have shown that in the case of statins, the fear of a pandemic should never be used as an excuse for stopping treatment," he concluded.
SOURCE: PAP
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