Prehospital HMG Co-A reductase inhibitor use and reduced mortality in hemorrhagic shock due to trauma

Introduction 3-Hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl Co-A reductase inhibitors (HMG Co-A reductase inhibitors, statins) are commonly used medications for the control of serum cholesterol. Recent data suggests that these medications also modify the inflammatory pathways in sepsis, septic shock, and hemorrhagic shock due to ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms. Statin use in hemorrhagic shock due to trauma, however, has conflicting data, with one study showing improvement, but only in certain subsets of patients. Study design We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients from our institution’s trauma registry database from January 2000 to December 2008. We included patients with an age greater than 45 years and an Injury Severity Score (ISS) greater than 15 with evidence of shock as follows: hypotension, elevated serum lactate, base deficit, metabolic acidosis, or objective evidence of end-organ malperfusion. We excluded patients with devastating head injury, patients with pre-existing advance directives directing against life-sustaining measures, patients for whom family or health care proxies withdrew support in 24 h or less, and patients who succumbed to their injuries in the first 24 h in the hospital. We compared age, gender, mortality, statin use, aspirin use, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores. Results Mortality in the group without prehospital statin use was 38.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 28.4–48.8%) and mortality in the group with prehospital statin use was 8.3% (95% CI: 2.13–22.5%, P = 0.0009). The absolute risk reduction was 29.8% and the relative risk reduction was 78.1%. Survivors were statistically significantly younger than nonsurvivors in the group without prehospital statin use, but not in the group with documented prehospital statin use. There was no similar benefit to aspirin use. There were no significant differences in the SOFA scores, hospital length of stay (HLOS), or intensive care unit length of stay (ICU LOS) between statin users and nonusers. Conclusions Prehospital HMG Co-A reductase use was associated with improved survival in a population with severe trauma and evidence of ongoing hemorrhagic shock