Statins can benefit patients with primary membranous nephropathy on venous thromboembolism

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of prophylactic use of statin in venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with primary membranous nephropathy (PMN).

A total of 734 patients with PMN were consecutively enrolled in this retrospective study. 564 patients had received statins prescription, while 170 patients did not. Kaplan-Meier methods were used for cumulative incidence plots of thromboembolic events and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess risk factors. Finally, the effects of different potency of statins were evaluated.

In the cohort, 37 patients (5.0%) experienced VTE. In a univariate Cox proportional hazard model, the hazard ratio (HR) for VTE in statin users versus statin non-users was 0.5 (95% CI 0.3-0.8, p = .03). Multivariable model proportional-hazards analysis corrected for co-medications and risk factors revealed that adjusted HR was 0.4 (95% CI 0.1-0.7, p = .03). According to the type and dose, statin users were assigned into 3 groups: high-intensity group (n = 278), moderate-intensity group (n = 186), and low-intensity group (n = 49). In comparison, incidences of VTEs in the three groups were similar (2.9% vs 4.8% vs 2.0%, p = .45).

The prophylactic use of statins could effectively decrease the occurrence of VTE in patients with PMN, and the benefits have no difference in different potency of statins.