SynthesisCritical care (London, England)2014
Effect of statin therapy on mortality from infection and sepsis: a meta-analysis of randomized and observational studies.
Synthesis in Critical care (London, England), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Impact of Statin Use on Sepsis Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Statins and clinical outcomes with COVID-19: Meta-analyses of observational studies.Diabetes & metabolism · 2021 · on this mapPooled it
- Association of Preadmission Statin Use and Mortality in Critically Ill Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of statins on benign prostatic hyperplasia and the lower urinary tract symptoms: A Meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- The effects of statin therapy on mortality in patients with sepsis: A meta-analysis of randomized trials.Medicine · 2018Pooled it
- The combined effect of statin and vitamin C in patients with pulmonary septic shock: a single-center, double-blind clinical trial.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Trial
- Impact of Statin Therapy on Clinical Outcomes of Patients Hospitalised with Skin and Soft Tissue Infections.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Association between pravastatin use and short-term mortality in ICU patients with sepsis: a retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- High-density lipoprotein: a biomarker and therapeutic target in sepsis.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Review
- Association between statins use and mortality in critically ill patients with sepsis included myocardial injury: a retrospective cohort study.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Effects of non-HDL-C and statin therapy on mortality in ARDS: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Statin use during intensive care unit stay is associated with improved clinical outcomes in critically ill patients with sepsis: a cohort study.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Problematic meta-analyses: Bayesian and frequentist perspectives on combining randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Article
- The Plasma Lipidomic Landscape in Patients with Sepsis due to Community-acquired Pneumonia.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2024Article
- Role of aspirin, beta-blocker, statins, and heparin therapy in septic patients under mechanical ventilation: a narrative review.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Review
- Atazanavir-induced unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia prevents vascular hyporeactivity during experimental human endotoxemia.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Treatment Reducing Endothelial Activation Protects against Experimental Cerebral Malaria.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- "MATH+" Multi-Modal Hospital Treatment Protocol for COVID-19 Infection: Clinical and Scientific Rationale.Journal of clinical medicine research · 2022Review
- Protective efficacy of statins in patients withFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Statin uses in adults with non-dialysis advanced chronic kidney disease: Focus on clinical outcomes of infectious and cardiovascular diseases.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionObservational data have suggested that statin therapy may reduce mortality in patients with infection and sepsis; however, results from randomized studies are contradictory and do not support the use of statins in this context. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to investigate the effects of statin therapy on mortality from infection and sepsis.
methodsWe searched electronic databases (PubMed and Embase) for articles published before November 2013. Randomized or observational studies reporting the effects of statin therapy on mortality in patients with infection or sepsis were eligible. Randomized and observational studies were separately pooled with relative risks (RRs) and random-effects models.
resultsWe examined 5 randomized controlled trials with 867 patients and 27 observational studies with 337,648 patients. Among the randomized controlled trials, statins did not significantly decrease in-hospital mortality (RR, 0.98; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.73 to 1.33) or 28-day mortality (RR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.46 to 1.89). However, observational studies indicated that statins were associated with a significant decrease in mortality with adjusted data (RR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.57 to 0.75) or unadjusted data (RR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.59 to 0.94).
conclusionsLimited evidence suggests that statins may not be associated with a significant reduction in mortality from infection and sepsis. Although meta-analysis from observational studies showed that the use of statins was associated with a survival advantage, these outcomes were limited by high heterogeneity and possible bias in the data. Therefore, we should be cautious about the use of statins in infection and sepsis.
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Registered trials
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.