Statins seem to increase the risk of acute pancreatitis, especially during the first year of use, according to Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.

Researchers compared 4,376 patients hospitalised for acute pancreatitis with 19,859 randomly selected age and sex-matched adults. Nineteen per cent of those hospitalised for acute pancreatitis and 13 per cent of controls had taken statins. Statin use was associated with a 25 per cent increase in acute pancreatitis after allowing for confounders.

This increase was especially marked during the first year of treatment: a 37 per cent increase for three months or less of use and 32 per cent for four to 12 months’ treatment among current users. People who previously took statins for a year or less were 64 per cent more likely than never users to develop acute pancreatitis. The risk of acute pancreatitis was 27 per cent higher in statin users with no history of gallstone or alcohol-related diseases and 48 per cent higher in those with no co-morbidities or medicines other than statins.

The authors estimate that the annual incidence of acute pancreatitis that is not related to alcohol “can be as high as five per 10,000 among statin users”. They call for “goodquality observational and register studies or real-world evidence” in addition to randomised trials to characterise the risks. (DOI:10.1002/pds.3858)