Pattern of risks of systemic lupus erythematosus among statin users: a population-based cohort study

Abstract

Our findings showed no effect of statins on the risk of developing SLE among patients aged ≥40 years. Further research is needed to study the long-term effects of statins on SLE.

Response to: ‘Statins in systemic lupus erythematosus’ by Abud-Mendoza

“…Each statin user was matched to one control (‘non-user’) based on age, sex and general practice at index date, with the index date of the control being the same as that of the statin user. The characteristics at baseline are presented in table 1 and are in line with the characteristics that have been shown in Table 1 in our paper 2. Statin users and non-users had similar distributions of age (statin users: mean age, 62.7 years; and non-users: 61.9 years) and sex (statin users and non-users: 47.7% women).…”

“…Statin users and non-users had similar distributions of age (statin users: mean age, 62.7 years; and non-users: 61.9 years) and sex (statin users and non-users: 47.7% women). In our study population aged ≥16 years, the incidence rate was the same as the incidence rate in our recent study,2 0.7 cases per 10 000 person-years.…”

“…Unfortunately, in the UK’s Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD)—an ongoing primary care database of anonymised medical records from general practitioners that was used in our study—no measurements for SLE activity before or after initiating statin therapy are available 2. We, however, do not think that statin therapy is superior to hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as therapy to reduce relapses and thrombotic events in SLE.…”

“…It was with great interest that we read the correspondence of Abud-Mendoza1 on our recent paper in which we described a decreased risk of developing systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in statin users who continued their therapy for >1 year 2…”

Statins in systemic lupus erythematosus

“…De Jong et al 1 recently published a report emphasising the use of statins as safety drugs, whose diverse effects in immune modulation could be related to autoimmune disorders. Although De Jong’s cohort shows no association with autoimmune disease development such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in our view, the data could support potential prevention of SLE.…”