Are statins beneficial for viral pneumonia

Respiratory infections, primarily pneumonia and influenza, continue to be the leading infectious cause of death in the developed world [1, 2]. Despite the introduction of new classes of antibiotics there has been little progress in improving pneumonia-related outcomes since the widespread introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s [3]. In addition, there has been little progress on agents to potentially blunt mortality from another influenza pandemic [4]. Despite great hope for agents, such as drotrecogin alfa and corticosteroids, no new classes of medications have been conclusively demonstrated to improve clinical outcomes for viral or bacterial pneumonias. Therefore, additional treatments are critically needed to improve clinical outcomes for patients with pneumonia. Recently, epidemiological studies of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (“statins”) have suggested that patients receiving statins have decreased incidence of serious infections, or for those hospitalised with viral or bacterial infections, including pneumonia, have improved clinical outcomes [5–9]. Other studies have found that statins attenuate the systemic inflammatory response [10–13]. In addition, statins have been demonstrated to have protective endothelial effects, influence inflammatory cell signalling, directly affect T-cell activity, and influence the nitric oxide balance to promote haemodynamic stability [14–16]. While awaiting adequately powered randomised control …