A new systematic review by The Cochrane Library researchers has demonstrated that the risk of post-operative atrial fibrillation can be reduced by administering pre-operative statin therapy, in addition to reducing patients’ ICU (intensive care unit) stay and hospital stay in those undergoing cardiac surgery. However, around the time of surgery, statin pre-therapy showed no impact on the risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure or death.

Statins decrease the levels of lipids in the blood, which reduces the mortality risk in patients with coronary heart disease. Researchers from the University of Cologne decided to investigate whether patients about to undergo heart surgery would also benefit from taking statins prior to surgery and examined data found in 11 randomized controlled studies, which included a total of 984 participants who were undergoing various types of heart surgery.

Their findings revealed that administering statins prior to surgery decreased the number of post-operative atrial fibrillation incidences, which indicated that statin therapy proved beneficial in patients when compared with patients who did not receive statin therapy. They also found that patients who received pre-operative statin therapy were likely to be discharged about 3 ½ hours earlier from ICU and left the hospital about half a day sooner, compared with those without statin therapy before their operation. The team noted no substantial reduction in the percentage of people with subsequent heart attack or kidney failure and the therapy also had no impact on the number of people who suffered a stroke soon after surgery or on those who died.

Leading researcher Oliver J. Liakopoulos, from the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Cologne’s Heart Centre said their findings had one limitation, explaining:

“Since the data we analyzed had come mainly from patients having coronary artery bypass operations, the results cannot be extrapolated to patients undergoing other cardiac procedures such as heart valve or aortic surgery.”

The team also points out that more data is required. Liakopoulos says:

“To get a clearer picture of the potential benefits of taking statins before a heart operation, we need to have more clinical trials and find out whether clinical outcomes can be further improved if patients use special statin dosing regimens shortly before a heart procedure.”

Written By Petra Rattue