Statin use in septic patients

Evidence is trickling in about the benefits of statins in patients hospitalized with a variety of acute illnesses. Most of this evidence is derived by retrospectively comparing outcomes in current users vs non users of statins.

For patients with sepsis, according to a presentation at the Society of Critical Care Medicine 38th Critical Care Congress, current users fared better than remote users or never users and high dose users fared better than low dose users.

Should statins be incorporated into the sepsis bundle? That decision awaits ongoing prospective trials. For now it’s a matter of medication reconciliation according to one of the investigators:

Dr. Hite concluded: "For now, I would not recommend that statins be initiated in a septic patient, but it is reasonable to continue statins in a septic patient previously taking a statin. This is a change that I and many others have made in their practice over the past few years as a result of data similar to the data provided by this study."