Study suggests statins may help prevent deaths from seasonal flu.

Moral of the story: Again, just like with pneumonia, if you are already taking statins you are likely to be able to better fight off the flu (not swine flu). Not that you should start taking statins to fight off pneumonia or the flu, but a statin regimen will help. If you want to be proactive about fighting off the flu, get a flu shot.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 10/30/09

The AP (10/30, Marchione) reports that individuals already taking statins "when they caught seasonal flu and had to be hospitalized were twice as likely to survive than those who were not on such medicines," according to a study presented at an Infectious Diseases Society of America conference. Investigators looked at data on "2,800 people hospitalized with lab-confirmed seasonal flu in 10 states in 2007-2008." While "more than three percent of those not taking statins died in the hospital or in the following month," the researchers found that "the rate was half that among statin users, even though they were more likely to have underlying health problems like heart disease."

Reuters (10/30, Fox) quotes one of the study's researchers as saying, "This early research suggests there may be a role for statins in influenza treatment and it should be studied further."

WebMD (10/29, Laino) reported that the researchers "are now analyzing the data to determine if one brand of statin is associated with better odds of surviving the flu than another." HealthDay (10/29, Reinberg) also covered the story.