Increased Dose and Duration of Statin Use is Associated with Decreased Asthma-Related Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations

Publication date: Available online 6 February 2018
Source:The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
Author(s): Jiu-Yao Wang, Tsung-Chieh Yao, Yu-Ting Tsai, Ann Chen Wu, Hui-Ju Tsai
BackgroundStatins have pleiotropic anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects, yet the effect of statin use on asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations has remained unclear, especially in Asian populations.ObjectiveWe sought to examine the effect of statin therapy on asthma-related ED visits and/or hospitalizations.MethodsA cohort study was conducted using data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database from 2001 to 2013. A total of 117,595 adult patients with asthma were included. The outcomes were defined as asthma-related ED visits and/or hospitalizations. Multiple Cox proportional hazards models were applied to determine the effect of statin use on asthma-related ED visits and/or hospitalizations.ResultsThere were 3,417 asthma-related ED visits and/or hospitalizations among 117,595 subjects with asthma. Statin users were significantly less likely to experience asthma-related ED visits and/or hospitalizations (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.81; 95% confidence interval: 0.74-0.89) compared with nonstatin users. The risks of asthma-related ED visits and/or hospitalizations were decreased among those with a higher cumulative defined daily dose (DDD), greater average DDD, and longer cumulative-day users than the counterparts.ConclusionsOur study suggests that statin use is associated with the decreased risk of asthma-related ED visits and/or hospitalizations in patients with asthma. A dose-response effect of statin use is also observed in this study. Therefore, future randomized clinical trials would be warranted to further evaluate the association.