Statins in bacteremia, sepsis and pneumonia: Have we found the holy grail?

Abstract

Statins, beyond their lipid lowering properties, have pleiotropic properties that may modulate the inflammatory cascade and potentially could be useful in the management of inflammatory conditions such as bacteremia and sepsis. In this article, we aimed to review significant patents and available evidence regarding the anti-inflammatory characteristics of these agents and their role in the clinical outcome of inflammatory conditions. Several studies have demonstrated beneficial effects of prior use of statins in the development and the progression of bacteremia, sepsis and pneumonia and there is evidence supporting that the use of statins may be associated with a decreased hospital mortality caused by the above disorders. These investigations also suggest that these agents are infrequently associated with adverse events and are generally safe and well tolerated. However, it should be underlined that these data come mainly from observational retrospective investigations and randomized prospective studies are warranted to confirm these encouraging results. © 2009 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.