Bang UC, et al. - This nationwide case-cohort study was performed to ascertain the association between use of statins and mortality rate in patients with cirrhosis. In patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, the researchers found an association between regular use of statins and reduced mortality.

• From the period 1995 through 2014, the researchers did a retrospective case-cohort analysis based on data from the Danish registers.
• In this study, index date was time of diagnosis of cirrhosis (ICD-10: K703) and cohort entry depended on whether the patient was statin user or not.
• They used propensity score matching with a statin:non-statin ratio of 1:2.
• The exposure to statins (ATC classification C10AA) from the index date until death or end of follow-up based on prescription claims was included.
• They tested use of statins based on at least 2 statin claims as well as the longitudinal pattern over time of statin claims against mortality.
• Mortality rate was the main outcome.

• The researchers identified 24748 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis.
• Out of them, 5417 were eligible for matching.
• In this study, the mean age was 56 (SD 10) years and 36% were females.
• The prevalence of use of statins was 15%.
• A total of 744 patients were included in the matched cohort.
• For patients using statin, mortality rates were 88 (95% CI 73-105) per 1000 years and 127 (95% CI 114-141) for non-statin patients with a HR of 0.57 (95% CI 0.45-0.71).
• As per the outcomes, a more regular pattern of statin claims was associated with a lower risk of death.