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Statin Drug use before TBI Improves Survival and Outcome

In the October 2011 issue of the journal Trauma epidemiologist Eric B. Schneider, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reported that older patients who happened to have been taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs when admitted to the hospital with serious head injuries were 76% more likely to survive than those not taking the drugs, according to results of a Johns Hopkins study. Those taking statins also had a 13%greater likelihood of achieving good, functional recovery after one year.

Dr. Schneider suspects these effects are due to the anti-inflammatory properties of statin drugs which would prevent masses of white cells from moving into areas of traumatized brain tissue and killing them. He plans to do a clinical trial that would involve giving statins to in the ICU to seriously brain injured patients who had not previously taken statins.