Prevention & lipidsCohort study
Cardiovascular benefit of statin use against air pollutant exposure in older adults
- Retrospective cohort study
- population-based
Authors' conclusion
Among adults aged 60 years and older with high and low or moderate levels of exposure to PM10 and PM2.5, statin use was associated with a significantly lower risk of stroke.
Study context
- Population
- Adults aged ≥60 years free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in major metropolitan areas of the Republic of Korea, with PM10 and PM2.5 exposure in 2015
- Participants
- 1,229,444 adults
- Exposure
- Statin use vs no statin use across air pollutant exposure levels
- Statin usersn = 377,076
- Outcome
- Incident stroke
- Follow-up
- 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2021
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Incident stroke, high exposure (PM10 >50 µg/m3; PM2.5 >25 µg/m3)
Statin users vs Statin non-usersAdjusted hazard ratio (95% CI)
high PM10
0.80(0.75–0.85)
high PM2.5
0.80(0.80–0.86)
- Incident stroke events overall
- 86 018
- Stroke rate overall
- 719.0 events per 100 000 person-years (PYs)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Incident CVD, low or moderate exposure (PM10 ≤50 µg/m3; PM2.5 ≤25 µg/m3)
- Similar risk reduction among statin users
Original publication
Cardiovascular benefit of statin use against air pollutant exposure in older adults. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 14 February 2024. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwae061
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it