Effects of statins on lipid profile in chronic kidney disease patients: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Objective: The available data on statin effects in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are still conflicting. We investigated the impact of short-and long-term statin therapy on lipid profiles in CKD patients requiring or not requiring dialysis. Research design and methods: Data from Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from 1966 to May 2012 were searched for studies that investigated this effect. We included all randomized controlled clinical trials that investigated the impact of statin therapy on lipids and lipoproteins. Results: The final analysis included 16 trials with 3594 subjects. In CKD patients, statin therapy significantly reduced total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (p<0.003 for all comparisons), and the effect insignificantly intensified with duration of statin therapy (56.3 vs 66.8, 22.5 vs 24.1, and 53 vs 56.1 mg/dl, respectively). Comparing statin therapy for <= 3 and >3 months in CKD patients on dialysis, the magnitude of TC and LDL-C decreased (26.3 vs 25.9, and 42.2 vs 29.8 mg/dl, respectively, p>0.05 for both), while TG increased modestly (4.5 vs 13.4 mg/dl). Short-term statin therapy increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol by a mean 0.7 mg/dl (p = 0.04), and long-term therapy was associated with a mean reduction of 2.4 mg/dL. Conclusions: Statin therapy significantly modifies the lipid profile in CKD patients not on dialysis therapy (with the trend to be more effective with longer therapy), and have less beneficial effect in patients on dialysis with the trend to be less effective with longer duration of therapy.