Statins can increase the risk of shingles infection

This study was published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 2015 Jul;34(7):1451-8

Study title and authors:
Statins can increase the risk of herpes zoster infection in Asia.

Chen HH, Lin CL, Yeh CJ, Yeh SY, Kao CH.
Institute of Medicine and Public Health, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25864192

This study evaluated whether statin therapy increases the risk of herpes zoster (shingles). The study included 53,069 patients receiving statin therapy and 53,069 patients without statin therapy who were followed for more than 4.5 years.

The study found:
(a) Patients taking statins had a 21 % higher risk of contracting shingles than the patients not taking statins.
(b) Patients taking higher dose statins had more than 150% higher risk of contracting shingles than the patients not taking statins.

Chen concluded: "Statin therapy can increase herpes zoster (shingles) infection."

 

Links to other studies:

13 year study of nearly one million individuals shows that statins significantly increase the risk of shingles in older people

Doctor says statin drug hypersensitivity reactions are potentially life-threatening

Statins may be associated with skin lesions

13 year study of nearly one million individuals shows that statins significantly increase the risk of shingles in older people

This study was published in Clinical Infectious Disease 2013 Nov 13

Study title and authors:
Statins and the risk of herpes zoster: a population-based cohort study.

Antoniou T, Zheng H, Singh S, Juurlink DN, Mamdani MM, Gomes T.
Department of Family and Community Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24235264

This study examined the association between statin use and incidence of herpes zoster (shingles). The study included 494,651 individuals treated with a statin and an equal number of untreated individuals. The participants were aged 66 years of age or older and the study lasted for 13 years.

The study found:
(a) Those who used statins had a 13% increased risk of shingles compared to nonusers.
(b) Those who used statins had a 4% increased risk of knee arthroplasty compared to nonusers. (Knee arthroplasty involves replacing a damaged, worn or diseased knee with an artificial joint).

This 13 year study of nearly one million individuals shows that statins significantly increase the risk of shingles in older people.