Impact of vitamin D supplementation in patients on statin therapy, current status in human randomised control trials A Literature Study

Abstract

Abstract Background Statins are an important class of drugs that play an important role in lowering cholesterol levels, addressing atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular risk reduction. However, it has a number of side effects that hamper its adherence. It has been hypothesised that vitamin D significantly impacts statin therapy by modulating its activity as well as addressing the side effects. Aims & objectives This study aimed to assess the recent literature to find out the impact of vitamin D supplementation on statin therapy. Methodology A comprehensive search was conducted in Medline Ovid by using different search terms such as 'hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors,' 'statins', and 'vitamin D', along with their different names. It resulted in 46 studies. These studies were subjected to a number of filters to meet the inclusion criteria. Finally, ten studies were selected to address the aims of this study. All of the selected studies were randomised controlled trials that were published in the last 10 years. Results Reported results are from different countries such as New Zealand, Canada, China, India, and the US. A total of 10,234 participants with an age range of 25-84 years have been included in these studies. This review study included small scaled studies with a follow-up period of 24 weeks as well as large scaled studies with a follow-up period of up to 4.2 years. All the selected studies were aimed at assessing the impact of vitamin D on statin users. This review reports statistically significant benefits of vitamin D supplements in statin users with better lipid profile, reduced side effects, and appreciatively improved treatment persistence. However, these findings are significant in individuals who had low baseline vitamin D levels before supplementation. Conclusion In conclusion, this review demonstrates that vitamin D supplementation may benefit statin user, particularly with low baseline vitamin D levels, by improving treatment persistence, leading to long term use of statins with minimum side effects