TOPLINE

In older adults unvaccinated against influenza, statin initiation was linked to fewer hospital diagnoses of pneumonia and other acute respiratory infections; however, no significant association was found between statin initiation and the risk for hospital-diagnosed influenza.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a population-based cohort study using data from nine annual cohorts (2010-2018) in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink to assess whether statin initiation was associated with a reduced risk for respiratory infections in adults aged 65 years and or older who had not received an influenza vaccine in during the current year or prior two the previous 2 years.
• A total of 35,562 patients who initiated statins between May and September were propensity score matched to 177,810 statin non‑users within each annual cohort. The matched cohort had an average age of 76.5 years, and about 55% of the patients were women.
• The primary outcome was a subsequent hospital-recorded diagnosis of influenza; secondary outcomes included hospital‑recorded acute respiratory infection and pneumonia.
• Patients were followed up for one 1 year starting beginning in September. Follow-up was censored by death, deregistration from the primary care practice, or, among non-users, receipt of a subsequent statin prescription.

TAKEAWAY

• Patients who started statins had a 14% lower risk for hospital‑diagnosed pneumonia (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.86; 95% CI, 0.78-0.94) and a 17% lower risk for hospital‑diagnosed acute respiratory infections (aHR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.76-0.89).
• No significant association was found for between statin initiation and the risk for hospital-diagnosed influenza.

IN PRACTICE

"Although these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that statins may attenuate progression to severe respiratory illness, alternative explanations, including residual confounding and differences in healthcare utilisation, cannot be excluded," the authors wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Adam J. Streeter, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, England. It was published online on August 13, 2026, in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

LIMITATIONS

The study was limited to older adults who had not received an influenza vaccine. Statin - were censored if they later started statins, which could have biased the findings if treatment switching reflected health status. Moreover, prescribing records indicated whether drugs were prescribed but not whether patients actually took the drugs differences in adherence and healthcare use could have the findings.

DISCLOSURES

This study was supported by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research. Two authors disclosed receiving consultancy fees from the Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute. 

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.