Evaluation of the effect of statin therapy on airway inflammation and clinical outcome of moderate and severe bronchial asthma

Abstract

Background Epidemiological data have linked statin use with improvements in lung health and asthma-related hospitalizations and/or emergency room visits. Aim The aim was to evaluate the effect of statin therapy on airway inflammation and clinical outcome in moderate and severe asthma. Patients and methods This study was conducted on 61 cases, but only 40 cases completed the study. Patients were recruited from outpatient clinic and general ward of Thoracic Medicine Department of Mansoura University Hospitals from May 2015 to June 2016. They were categorized into statin group, which included 20 asthmatic cases that received statin (atorvastatin with a dose of 20 mg daily for 3 months), serving as the study group, which was further subdivided into two subgroups: moderate and severe subgroups, and nonstatin group, which included 20 asthmatics cases that did not receive statin, serving as a control group, and they were further subdivided into two subgroups: moderate and severe subgroups. Results Using clinical, laboratory, functional and radiological score (CLFR) score at beginning and at the end of 3 months, we found that there was a significant difference in moderate cases in statin group (P pre-post=0.01FNx01) against moderate cases in nonstatin group (P pre-post=0.303). Moreover, a significant difference in CLFR score was found in severe cases in statin group (P pre-post=0.025FNx01) against severe cases in nonstatin group (P pre-post=0.136). Conclusion Statins have significant effect on inflammatory markers and bronchial asthma symptoms owing to their anti-inflammatory effects; therefore, statins may play a role in bronchial asthma management and could be used as an add-on therapy.

Keywords

• airway inflammation
• CFLR score
• severe asthma
• statin therapy