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" People who take cholesterol-lowering statins before being admitted to hospital with pneumonia may be less likely to die in the following months, a new report has found. A report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine today claims that statin users appear less likely to die within 90 days of being hospitalised. In Europe and the US, pneumonia hospitalisation rates have increased 20 per cent to 50 per cent over the past decade, with about ten to 15 per cent of those with pneumonia dying from the disease. Researchers reviewed data from 29,900 adults admitted to hospital with pneumonia between 1997 and 2004. Of these, 1,371 (4.6 per cent) were taking statins at the time. Mortality among statin users was lower than among non-users - 10.3 per cent compared to 15.7 per cent after 30 days and 16.8 per cent compared to 22.4 per cent after 90 days, the report found. &amp;#039;The differences became apparent during the first few weeks of hospitalisation, a period associated with a high number of pneumonia-related deaths, and they increased only minimally between 30 and 90 days after admission, which suggests that statin use is beneficial primarily in the early phase of infection,&amp;#039; the authors state. Experts claim that statins change the immune response, beneficially affect processes associated with blood clotting and inflammation, and inhibit dysfunction in blood vessels. &amp;#039;These effects may especially benefit patients with sepsis and bacteraemia, which are associated with early death from pneumonia,&amp;#039; the authors claim. &amp;#039;Our study adds to the accumulating evidence that statin use is associated with improved prognosis after severe infections. &amp;#039;The decrease in mortality associated with statin use seems to be substantial in patients with pneumonia requiring hospital admission. Randomised trials are needed to examine causality of the associations found in observational studies. &amp;#039;Given the availability of statins, with their relatively low cost and mild adverse effects, positive results of statin therapy trials in patients with pneumonia would have substantial clinical and public health implications.&amp;#039; \u00A9 Adfero Ltd "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a17326/statins-may-protect-against-pneumonia-deaths/>