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. 2021 Mar 16;21:120. doi: 10.1186/s12876-021-01704-w

Table 1.

Quantitative summary of the safety outcomes with different statins

Statin/dose Authors/publication year Composite of rhabdomyolysis and muscle injury Rhabdomyolysis Muscle injury not fulfilling criteria of Rhabdomyolysis Myalgia Drug induced liver injury
Simvastatin 40 mg Abraldes 2009 [48] 2/30 0/30 2/30 ↑CK > 2x Muscle weakness or myalgias 1/30 1/30 ↑AST > 2x
Abraldes 2016 [51] 2/70 2/70 (one Child B the other in Child C) 0/70 0/70 1/70 ↑3 × liver transaminases
Elwan 2018 [63] 0/20 0/20 0/20 2/20 0/20
Pollo-Flores 2015 [49] 0/14 0/14 0/14 1/14

0/14

ALT decreased in simvastatin group, no values provided, and did not reach significance

Pose 2019 [59] 3/16 3/16 (2 Child Pugh C, 1 Child Pugh B)

0/16

CK—mean difference vs. placebo: 1009 IU/L (208 to 1809) p = 0·014

(muscle symptoms) 5/16

3/16 ↑AST or ALT > 3 × ULN

AST—mean difference vs. placebo: 130 IU/L (54 to 205) p = 0.0009

ALT -mean difference vs. placebo: 61 IU/L (22 to 100) p = 0·0025

Vijayaraghavan 2020 [50] 3/81 n = 3/81 (all Child Pugh C) 0/81 0/81 n = 3/81 AST/ALT > 20 × ULN (same patients as Rhabdomyolysis)
*Jha 2019 [33] (n = 65 in simvastatin group) 0/65 0/65 0/65 0/65 0/65
*Munoz 2019 [32] (n = 9 in simvastatin group) 0/9 0/9 0/9 0/9 0/9

Munoz 2018 [44] (abstract)

(Munoz 2020 [45] full article published after initial search)

4/30 0/30 4/30 (13%) myalgia plus CK increase 7/30 (23%) 0/30
Total: 14/335 (14/261 excluding*) Total: 8/335 (8/261 excluding*) Total: 6/335 (6/261 excluding*) Total: 16/335 (16/261 excluding*) Total: 8/335 (8/261 excluding*)
Simvastatin 20 mg Pose 2019 [59] N/A 0/14 0/14 (muscle symptoms) 6/14 1/14 ↑AST and ALT > 3 × ULN
Wani 2017 [64] N/A 0/38 1/38—muscle weakness, CPK > 5X ULN with normal ALT (after 15 days of simvastatin 20 mg daily before dose titration) 0/38 0/38
N/A Total: 0/52 Total: 1/52 Total: 6/52 Total: 1/52
Atorvastatin 20 mg Bishnu 2018 [42] (n = 11 for atorvastatin group) N/A 0/11 0/11 0/11 0/11

Ghadir 2019 [53]

(both intervention and control group has atorvastatin)

N/A 0/40 0/40 0/40 7/40 (3/20 + 4/20) ↑ liver transaminases > 3 xULN or noncompliance were excluded from final analysis
N/A Total: 0/51 Total: 0/51 Total: 0/51 Total: 7/51
Pravastatin 40 mg

Jouve 2019 [52]

(84.8% of participants with cirrhosis) All patients received Sorafenib

N/A 0/155

CK increase

Grade 1–2

29/155 in Sorafenib + Pravastatin vs (30/157 in Sorafenib alone)

Grade 3–4

1/155 in Sorafenib + Pravastatin

vs. 0/157 in sorafenib alone

Grade 1–2

24/155 in Sorafenib + Pravastatin vs (19/157 in Sorafenib alone)

Grade 3–4

3/155 in Sorafenib + Pravastatin

vs. 0/157 in sorafenib alone

0/155

Riaño 2020 [31]

(90.3% of participants with cirrhosis) All patients received Sorafenib

N/A 0/15 0/15 0/15 0/15
Blanc 2018 [43] (Abstract) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A Total: 0/170 Total: 30/170 Total: 27/170 Total: 0/170

*Published in journals not indexed in the studied databases