Statin use and the risk of gallstone disease: a population-based case–control study

Abstract

This study does not provide support for a beneficial association between usage of statin and gallstone disease.

Statin use and risk of gallstone disease: A meta‐analysis

“…The relationship between current statin used and the risk of gallstone disease were explored in the six studies. Of the six studies, two had no statistically significant difference. Pooled analyses of OR in the random‐effects model showed that subjects who used statin had a lower overall risk of gallstone disease compared with non‐users, and there was heterogeneity among the studies (OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.77–0.97, P = 0.018; for heterogeneity, P < 0.001, I 2 = 81.1%; Fig.…”

“…Occupying a portion of the binding site of HMG reductase, statins block access of this substrate to the active site on the enzyme leading to a reduction of intrahepatic cholesterol production and alterations of bile cholesterol saturation . Another possible mechanism of the action of statins on gallstone disease is inhibition of cholesterol crystal nucleation . Until 2000, large‐sample clinical observational studies on statin use and risk of gallstone disease were conducted, but no meta analysis was performed.…”

“…One 20 study was excluded as it reported OR from the same sample in a later paper. 11 Finally, we identified four case-control studies, [10][11][12]21 one cohort 13 and one cross-sectional study 22 that met the inclusion criteria; the search process is detailed in Figure 1 and the main characteristics of the studies are described in Table 1. Three studies [10][11][12] used cholecystectomy due to gallstone disease as the end-point.…”

“…There were 500 338 cases from case-control studies, 121 700 from cohorts and 830 from cross-sectional, for a total of 622 868 cases. Of the six studies, four [12][13][14]22 were conducted in Europe, one 11 in North America and one 21 in Asia. The included studies were published between 2001 and 2012, and the sample size of the studies varied from 830 participants 22 to 357 419.…”

Effect of statin use on outcome of symptomatic cholelithiasis: a case-control study

“…In accordance with this finding, the need of surgery of any type or the cholelithiasis outcomes did not differ between the statin and non-statin groups, which contrasted with some previous studies. In a Taiwanese study, the investigators did not find a beneficial association between statin use and gallstone disease [21]. However, in East Asia, there is a lower prevalence of gallstones, and the stones primarily have a brown pigment, which indicates that they are comprised mainly of calcium [1].…”