Statin drugs significantly lower the blood level of CoQ10, meta-analysis shows
Highlights
- Meta-analysis of 6 robust, placebo-controlled trials (8 treatment arms)
- Statin drugs significantly reduce the blood level of CoQ10 (WMD -0.44 mmol/L)
- CoQ10 depletion profiles are similar for all four types of statin drugs analyzed
Summary
This meta-analysis was designed to assess the impact of statin therapy on blood CoQ10 levels.
The literature search included selected databases up to April 30, 2015. Study inclusion criteria included placebo-controlled trials with either parallel or cross-over design that investigated the impact of statin therapy (monotherapy or combination) on the blood level of CoQ10 and presented sufficient information on changes in CoQ10 levels.
Results indicate a significant (P<.05) reduction in blood CoQ10 levels following statin treatment with a weighted mean difference (WMD) of -0.44 μmol/L. The pooled effect size was robust and remained significant in the leave-one-out sensitivity analysis.
Subgroup analysis indicated all four types of statins studied (i.e. atorvastatin, simvastatin, rosuvastatin, and pravastatin) significantly reduced the blood CoQ10 level in a similar manner with no differential effect between lipophilic and hydrophilic statins.
With respect to treatment duration, a significant (P<.05) effect was found in both subsets of trials lasting less than 12 weeks (WMD: -0.51 μmol/L) and 12 weeks or longer (WMD: -0.40 μmol/L).
These finding indicate that statin drugs significantly reduce the blood level of CoQ10. Patients taking statin drugs may benefit from CoQ10 supplementation to help offset this drug-induced depletion.
