A Danish study finds that patients who were hospitalized for pneumonia and taking statins at the time (cholesterol-lowering drugs) had one-third lower death rate than those not taking statins.

According to experts, the findings are preliminary and further research is needed to prescribe statins as infection fighters.

Dr. Reimar W, Thomsen, who led the study, says: “We must interpret these findings with care.” The study has been published in Oct. 27 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Thomsen adds, “Staists have an anti-inflammatory effect, and we have just begun to understand that systemic infections like pneumonia cause inflammation can possibly trigger many adverse reactions in human bodies.”

In the study, other drugs (for coronary conditions) like aspirin and beta blockers did not show any effect on pneumonia mortality.

In this study, Data on 29,900 adults, who were hospitalized with pneumonia between 1997 and 2004, was reviewed. The researchers noted that around 1,371 were taking statins at the time and the 30-day death rate of that group was 10.3 percent and 15.7 percent for those not taking statins at the time. Similarly, the 90-day death was noted as 16.8 percent for the statin group and 22.4 percent for those not taking it.