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Study: Statins do not increase risk for lupus
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Statins had no effect on lupus risk among middle-aged patients, according to a recently published study.
“Our study demonstrated no association between current statin use and the risk of developing [systemic lupus erythematosus] SLE among patients aged [at least 40] years,” Olaf H. Klungel, PharmD, PhD, from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote. “However, we did find a 38% decreased risk of developing SLE in current users who continued their therapy for at least 1 year, although this finding of a decreased SLE risk disappeared in the sensitivity analyses.”
Researchers assessed patients who were prescribed at least one statin between 1995 and 2009 and were matched to non-users by age, gender, practice and date of first prescription. In total, there were 1,039,694 patients. Of these, 519,847 were statin users.
Investigators found among current statin users who were at least 40 years of age did not have an increased risk for lupus. However, current statin users who continued therapy for at least 1 year had a reduced risk for lupus (hazard ratio = 0.62); although, this finding did not remain for more specific definitions of lupus. – by Will A. Offit
Disclosures: Smolen reports he received grant support from and/or provided expert advice to AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Celltrion, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Iltoo, Janssen, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Samsung, Novartis-Sandoz and UCB.
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