The impact of preoperative statin therapy on open and endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair outcomes

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the utilization of preoperative statins and their impact on perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing open or endovascular aortic repair. METHODS: Patients ≥50 years of age with non-ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm repair were identified in MedPAR files 2007-2008 utilizing ICD-9-CM codes. Preoperative statins use was identified using National Drug Codes in Part D. Chi-square test, multivariable logistic regression, Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression modeling were performed. RESULTS: In all, 19,323 patients were identified undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (14,602 endovascular aortic repair and 4721 open aortic repair); 9913 (50.3%) used statins before surgery. Bivariate analysis demonstrated lower rates of hospital, 30-, 90-day and 1-year mortality in patients with statins compared to those without statins after endovascular aortic repair (1.0% vs. 1.45%, p = 0.01; 1.51% vs. 2.3%, p = 0.0004; 3.05% vs. 4.66%, p < 0.0001; 7.91% vs. 11.56%, p < 0.0001, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression adjusting for age, gender, race, comorbidities and procedure demonstrated preoperative statins use was associated with a mortality reduction at 90-days postoperatively (odds ratio = 0.80; 95% CI 0.70-0.91, p = 0.0014) and 1-year postoperatively (odds ratio = 0.76; 95% CI 0.69-0.84, p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Only half of the patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair were prescribed preoperative statins. After adjustment, statins were significantly associated with improved survival during 1 year after surgery and a decreased incidence of lower extremity embolic complications after endovascular aortic repair. These data support a beneficial role of statin use prior to surgery for patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Further prospective studies are needed to assess the benefit of statins in the perioperative period after 365 days.