FRIDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Patients who use statins before major elective surgery may have a decreased likelihood of post-surgery renal complications and reduced postoperative mortality, according to a study published online April 14 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Amber O. Molnar, M.D., from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, and colleagues investigated renal outcomes among 213,347 patients age 66 years or older who underwent a major elective surgery between 1995 and 2008. Renal outcomes were compared between 67,941 statin users (32 percent), who had filled at least one prescription for a statin in the 90 days before surgery, and nonstatin users.
The investigators found that, in the first 14 days post-surgery, acute kidney injury developed in 1.9 percent of patients, with 0.5 percent requiring acute dialysis. The mortality rate was 2.8 percent during the first 30 days after surgery. Statin use was associated with a 21 percent lower risk of mortality (odds ratio [OR], 0.79), 16 percent lower risk of acute kidney injury (OR, 0.84), and reduced likelihood of acute dialysis (OR, 0.83), after adjusting for patient and surgical characteristics.
"Our results support the assertion that preoperative statin use reduces important renal complications after major elective surgery," the authors write.
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