Statins and Lower Gastrointestinal Conditions: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Statins and Lower Gastrointestinal Conditions: A Retrospective Cohort Study. J Clin Pharmacol. 2017 Apr 11;: Authors: Pearlman M, Covin Y, Schmidt R, Mortensen EM, Mansi IA Abstract Several studies have reported constipation, abdominal pain, or diarrhea as common adverse events for statins. Statins are among the most commonly prescribed medications, and the impact on the prevalence of these conditions was rarely studied as main outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine if statin therapy is associated with constipation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or colitis. This was a retrospective cohort study using a regional military health care data from October 1, 2003, to March 1, 2012. A propensity score-matched cohort of statin users and nonusers was created based on 82 variables. The primary analysis evaluated the odds ratios of the following diagnoses: constipation, ≥3 encounters for constipation; abdominal pain, ≥3 encounters for abdominal pain; diarrhea, ≥3 encounters for diarrhea; colitis, ≥3 encounters for colitis; and endoscopy of the lower gastrointestinal tract, ≥3 endoscopies of the lower gastrointestinal tract. After propensity score matching of 6342 statin users and 6342 nonusers, there was no statistically significant difference in constipation (OR, 0.96; 95%CI, 0.87-1.05; P = .33), abdominal pain (OR, 0.95; 95%CI, 0.88-1.02; P = .15), or colitis (OR, 1.02; 95%CI, 0.91-1.14; P = .73). However, there was an associat...
Source: The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: J Clin Pharmacol Source Type: research