Regular statin use not protective against post-ERCP pancreatitis

Regular use of statins does not confer protective benefits against the development of postendoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (post-ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP), a recent study has found.

“ERCP is widely utilized to diagnose and treat various pancreaticobiliary diseases, but PEP can be a fatal adverse event,” the authors said. “Evidence suggests that statins may exhibit suppressive effects on inflammation in the pancreas.”

To examine the protective effect of statins on PEP, consecutive patients who underwent ERCP were identified at a tertiary care centre in Japan between January 2010 and January 2019. The authors compared the incidences of PEP between regular and nonregular statin users. Then, they used a multivariable logistic regression model to assess the relationship between statin use and PEP incidence, controlling for potential risk factors for PEP.

A total of 2,664 patients (328 regular and 2,336 nonregular users) were included in this analysis. No difference was found in the incidence of PEP by statin use status (regular vs nonregular users: 8.8 percent vs 7.9 percent; p=0.52). Comparing regular statin use with nonregular use, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for PEP was 1.08 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.67–1.72; p=0.76).

Examination of specific statin types (ie, hydrophilic and lipophilic) revealed a consistent null association: 6.8 percent of 132 hydrophilic statin users and 10 percent of 196 lipophilic statin used (p=0.74 and p=0.27, respectively, compared with nonregular users).

“A further investigation is warranted before this medication is tested in prospective randomized trials,” the authors said.