ArticlePloS one2018
Statins increase the risk of herpes zoster: A propensity score-matched analysis.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between statin use and herpes zoster: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2019Pooled it
- Lipids, lipid-lowering drugs and the risk of herpes zoster: a Mendelian randomization study.Archives of dermatological research · 2025Article
- Risk of herpes zoster in psoriasis patients receiving systemic therapies: a nationwide population-based cohort study.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Risk Factors for Herpes Zoster Infection: A Meta-Analysis.Open forum infectious diseases · 2020Review
- Association between Tuberculosis, Statin Use, and Diabetes: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2019Article
- Statin therapy and herpes virus reactivation-response to Zuin et al. paper.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2019Article
- Herpes zoster infection and statins: which implications in clinical practice?European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2019Review
- The diabetes pandemic and associated infections: suggestions for clinical microbiology.Reviews in medical microbiology : a journal of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland · 2019Article
- Formal comment on "Systematic review of the predictors of statin adherence for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease".PloS one · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesStatins, which are lipid-lowering agents, have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties that may affect the occurrence of various infectious diseases. We assessed whether statins increase the risk of herpes zoster (HZ) with propensity score-matching.
methodsThe study was based on the National Health Insurance database and its subset database of the "medical check-up" population of South Korea. These cohorts consist of about one million and 570,000 people, respectively, representative of the entire population of South Korea. We identified 103,930 statin users and 430,685 non-statin users. After propensity score-matching, 25,726 statin users and the same number of non-statin users were finally analyzed. The development of HZ was monitored in these matched pairs over the 11 years from 2003 to 2013.
resultsStatin users had a significantly higher risk of HZ than non-statin users: hazard ratio (HR) 1.25 (95% CI, 1.15 to 1.37) (p < .0001). The risk of HZ associated with statins was especially high in the elderly: HR 1.39 (95% CI, 1.12 to 1.73) in the over 70-year-olds (p = 0.003) and HR 1.18 (95% CI, 1.00 to 1.39) in the 60-to-69-year-olds (p = 0.056). Furthermore, there was a significant p for trend in terms of cumulative dose effect between the risk of HZ and the duration of statin use (p < .0001).
conclusionsThese epidemiologic findings provide strong evidence for an association between HZ and statin use, and suggest that unnecessary statins should be avoided.
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