Cirrhosis Patients Using Statins May Live Longer

Regular statin use is associated with a decreased risk of mortality in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, according to a recent study.

Previous studies have indicated that statin use may improve the course of cirrhosis.
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To explore this further, the researchers identified 24,748 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis using data from Danish registers between 1995 and 2014. Patients’ mean age was 56 years, and 36% of patients were women. Index date was defined as the time of a cirrhosis diagnosis. Patients were categorized based on statin use or non-statin use.

Propensity score matching was used to match statin users and non-statin users at a ratio of 1:2. Prescription claims were used to determine exposure to statins from the index date until death or the end of follow-up. Statin use, which was based on at least 2 statin claims and the longitudinal pattern of statin claims over time, was tested against mortality.

Of the 24,748 patients identified, 5417 were eligible for matching, and 744 were included in the matched cohort. Ultimately, the researchers found that a more regular pattern of statin claims had been associated with a lower risk of mortality. Results indicated that the prevalence of statin use had been 15%. Mortality rates were found to be 88 per 1000 years among statin users, compared with 127 per 1000 years for non-statin users.

“Our results showed an association between regular use of statins and reduced mortality in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Bang UC, Benfield T, Bendtsen F. Reduced risk of decompensation and death associated with use of statins in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. A nationwide case-cohort study [Published online September 7, 2017]. Alimentary Pharmacol Ther. doi:10.1111/apt.14243.