Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19006546›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2009

Effect of statins on a wide range of health outcomes: a cohort study validated by comparison with randomized trials.

Liam Smeeth, Ian Douglas, Andrew J Hall, Richard Hubbard, Stephen Evans

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers, 27 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
108citing papers in PubMed, 27 pooled it
11.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

108 citing papers in PubMed, 27 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 236 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Statins for the primary prevention of venous thromboembolism.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024
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  8. Efficacy of statins for osteoporosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2017
    Pooled it
  9. Statins for age-related macular degeneration.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016
    Pooled it
  10. Risk of cardiac valvulopathy with use of bisphosphonates: a population-based, multi-country case-control study.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2016
    Pooled it
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  15. Statins for age-related macular degeneration.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015
    Pooled it
  16. Statins for primary prevention of venous thromboembolism.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014
    Pooled it
  17. Statins, mood, sleep, and physical function: a systematic review.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2014
    Pooled it
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  19. Statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013 · on this map
    Pooled it
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48 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Liam SmeethDepartment of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. liam.smeeth@lshtm.ac.uk
Ian Douglas
Andrew J Hall
Richard Hubbard
Stephen Evans
University of Nottingham · GB

Funding

Wellcome Trust 082178
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsTo assess the effect of statins on a range of health outcomes.

methodsWe undertook a population-based cohort study to assess the effect of statins on a range of health outcomes using a propensity score-based method to control for differences between people prescribed and not prescribed statins. We validated our design by comparing our results for vascular outcomes with the effects established in large randomized trials. The study was based on the United Kingdom Health Improvement Network database that includes the computerized medical records of over four and a half million patients.

resultsPeople who initiated treatment with a statin (n = 129,288) were compared with a matched sample of 600,241 people who did not initiate treatment, with a median follow-up period of 4.4 years. Statin use was not associated with an effect on a wide range of outcomes, including infections, fractures, venous thromboembolism, gastrointestinal haemorrhage, or on specific eye, neurological or autoimmune diseases. A protective effect against dementia was observed (hazard ratio 0.80, 99% confidence interval 0.68, 0.95). There was no effect on the risk of cancer even after > or =8 years of follow-up. The effect sizes for statins on vascular end-points and mortality were comparable to those observed in large randomized trials, suggesting bias and confounding had been well controlled for.

conclusionsWe found little evidence to support wide-ranging effects of statins on health outcomes beyond their established beneficial effect on vascular disease.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overCohort StudiesFemaleHumansHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase InhibitorsIncidenceMaleMedical RecordsMiddle AgedMultivariate AnalysisMyocardial InfarctionOutcome Assessment, Health CareRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicReproducibility of ResultsHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors

Identifiers

PMID19006546
PMCPMC2668090
OpenAlexW2049462104

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.