Simvastatin does little to prevent recurrence of pancreatitis

Treatment with simvastatin does not appear to reduce the recurrence of pancreatitis when compared with placebo, according to interim data from a study.

The study included a total of 85 patients (42.1 percent female) with at least two episodes of recurrent acute pancreatitis or chronic pancreatitis flares in the previous 12 months. These patients were randomly assigned to receive either simvastatin or placebo for 1 year.

The primary endpoint was the recurrence of pancreatitis.

In the intention-to-treat analysis, pancreatitis recurrence occurred in 46.2 percent of patients on simvastatin vs 44.4 percent of those on placebo, with the difference not reaching statistical significance (odds ratio [OR], 1.07, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.43–2.66; p=0.88), or time to recurrence.

Per-protocol analysis yielded consistent findings, with the incidence of recurrence not significantly different between the simvastatin and placebo groups (35.5 percent vs 41.9 percent, respectively; OR, 0.76, 95 percent CI, 0.27–2.12; p=0.60).

Diabetes mellitus occurred in four patients, all of whom were in the simvastatin group (OR not calculable; p=0.04).

Researchers noted that the findings might be underpowered owing to the early termination of the trial. More studies are needed to establish the role of statins in this population and its association with new-onset diabetes.