STATIN Use & COVID-19

I know, I know.

I’ve been beating my drum about the dangers of using STATIN medications . . .

What drugs fall into the STATIN class you ask?

Well, you asked, so, here is the list (in order of most frequently prescribed):

  • Crestor (rosuvastatin)
  • Lipitor (atorvastatin)
  • Zocor (simvastatin)
  • Pravachol (pravastatin)
  • Mevacor (lovastatin)
  • Livalo (pitavastatin)
  • Lescol (fluvastatin),
  • Altoprev (lovastatin)
  • Altocor (lovastatin)
  • Ezallor (rosuvastatin)

According to the CDC website and their statistics as of 2021, over 47 million (15%) of the 331 million Americans are taking some form of STATIN medication [1].

I have one more bone to pick, or stick to beat this drum with . . .

You Really Need to Know:

In a study of 2449 patients with type 2 diabetes that got admitted to the hospital for severe COVID-19 infections, the 7-day and 28-day mortality rates (number of people who died) were significantly higher in those patients taking STATIN drugs than those patients not taking STATIN drugs [1].

The study was comprised of 881 women and 1568 men, all of which suffered from type 2 diabetes. We know that this process is driven by insulin resistance, so this applies to people in the pre-diabetic category as well.

In this study, 1192 (49%) of the patients were using STATIN treatment before their hospital admission.

The part of this study that should stand out to you, and to every doctor in the country, is that among these very sick patients your chance of dying from COVID-19 is 3% higher if you are on a STATIN medication.

Hmm . . . ?!

Remember from our email review yesterday that the research demonstrated that your absolute risk of death by heart attack is only reduced by 1-2% at best being a the STATIN drug.

Where’s the benefit in those odds?

I don’t see any benefit either.

So, What is the Take Home Message I Give You Today?

If you are my patient, and you are pre-diabetic or diabetic, stop your STATIN drug now.

Start taking daily Curcumin instead (as the science actually demonstrates significant improvement in CVD risk) [3,4,5], follow a ketogenic lifestyle religiously [6] and come in to get your cardiac risk assessed by checking the following:

  • Small LDL particle number
  • Triglycerides
  • Fasting Insulin
  • C-reactive Protein
  • Hemoglobin A1c
  • Complete Metabolic Profile
  • CBC
  • TSH
  • Thyroid Panel
  • Progesterone
  • DHEA
  • Pregnenolone
  • Testosterone Total and Free
  • Estradiol
  • Estrone
  • Carotid Ultrasound
  • EKG

Then, read and follow my COVID-19 protocol here, since COVID-1,9 and it’s variants, are here to stay, rearing their ugly heads every year.

By the way, Banner Hospital, their health plan and chief medical officer formally censured me for publicly posting this protocol last year, and threatened to drop me from their health plans and hospital staff if I didn’t remove it from public access.

So, now my COVID-19 protocol is behind a firewall.

Sincerely,

Adam S. Nally, DO

PS – The password (case sensitive) to my COVID-19 protocol is: DrNallyProtocol.  I hope this helps. 

References

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/facts.htm
  2. Cariou B, Goronflot T, Rimbert A, et al; CORONADO investigators. Routine use of statins and increased COVID-19 related mortality in inpatients with type 2 diabetes: results from the CORONADO study. Diabetes Metab. 2021;47(2):101202. doi:10.1016/j.diabet.2020.10.001
  3. Wongcharoen W, Jai-Aue S, Phrommintikul A, Nawarawong W, Woragidpoonpol S, Tepsuwan T, Sukonthasarn A, Apaijai N, Chattipakorn N. Effects of curcuminoids on frequency of acute myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass grafting. Am J Cardiol. 2012 Jul 1;110(1):40-4. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2012.02.043. Epub 2012 Apr 3. PMID: 22481014.
  4. Salehi B et al., Theraputic Applications of Curcumin Nanomedicine Formulations in Cardiovascular Diseases. J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9(3), 746; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9030746
  5. Jonathan M. Oliver, Lee Stoner, David S. Rowlands, Aaron R. Caldwell, Elizabeth Sanders, Andreas Kreutzer, Joel B. Mitchell, Martin Purpura, Ralf Jäger, “Novel Form of Curcumin Improves Endothelial Function in Young, Healthy Individuals: A Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Study”, Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, vol. 2016, Article ID 1089653, 6 pages, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1089653
  6. Nally A, Moore J, Emmerich M. The KetoCure: A Low-Carb, High-Fat Dietary Solution to Heal Your Body & Optimize Your Health. 1st ed., Victory Belt Publishing April 10, 2018. ISBN-10: 1628601299.