Safety of statin drugs in patients with dyslipidemia and stable systemic autoimmune myopathies

Recent studies have shown a high prevalence of dyslipidemia in patients with systemic autoimmune myopathies (SAM). However, little is known about the safety of the use of statins in these patients, and this gap in research motivated the accomplishment of the present study. In a retrospective cohort study conducted from 2004 to 2018, 250 patients with SAM were evaluated, and 24 patients had stable forms of SAM (16 dermatomyositis, 1 polymyositis and 7 antisynthetase syndrome) but had dyslipidemia and had received statins. Patients with clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis, immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy, dermatomyositis, or polymyositis induced by statins were excluded. The mean age of the patients was 50.6 years, and they were predominantly women. The median duration of the disease was 5.0 years. Twelve patients received simvastatin (10–60 mg/day), and 11 patients received atorvastatin (20–40 mg/day), and 1 patient received atorvastatin (10 mg/day) which was later replaced by simvastatin (20 mg/day). The median time of exposure to the statin was 22.5 months. The follow-up appointments showed that the patients’ lipid profiles had improved and that there had been no recurrences of disease activity or clinical intercurrences. Despite the small sampling, the data showed that the use of statins in patients with SAM was safe. New studies with a larger sample and patients with different degrees of disease activity are necessary to corroborate the results of the present study.