Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov. The effects of statins on mood: a review of the literature. Depression and Statin Drug Use From thousands of reports I have seen a strong association between statin drug use and affective disorders of all kinds. Preparation of this article included an extensive literature search of statins and depression using PubMed from 1972 to 2012. Get the latest research from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus. Diagnosis and management of statin intolerance. Expert Opin Pharmacother. Yet, new guidelines and research suggest that statins’ benefits do not apply to everyone. Statin medications also reduce inflammation. This article shows that statins could lead to depression by lowering cholesterol and that we should draw attention to this in clinical application, especially for patients complicated with depressive symptoms or low serum cholesterol levels. There is evidence suggesting an antidepressant effect when statins are adjunctively co-prescribed with antidepressant medicines. Statin therapy continues to help men lower their cholesterol levels, which can reduce their risk for heart attack or stroke. Simvastatin treatment exerts antidepressant-like effect in rats exposed to chronic mild stress. USA.gov. CNS Drugs. 2009 Mar;92(1):88-92. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2008.10.017. Epub 2008 Nov 5. We know that cholesterol plays an important role in the serotonin system, so statins used to lower cholesterol may lead to the occurrence of depression. Alghamdi J, Matou-Nasri S, Alghamdi F, Alghamdi S, Alfadhel M, Padmanabhan S. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030272. Nature Reviews Cardiology. Med Hypotheses. eCollection 2019. Of the individual statins, simvastatin, by far the most widely used agent, was associated with a 7% reduction in the risk of developing depression, whereas atorvastatin was associated with an 11% increase in the risk of developing depression.  |  Statin medications also reduce inflammation. Current Therapeutic Approaches for Targeting Inflammation in Depression and Cardiovascular Disease. Since the pathophysiology of depression involves inflammation, statins could have a role in the treatment of mood disorders and might become a pharmacotherapy option for patients experiencing depression. Statins provide protection against coronary and cerebrovascular diseases by decreasing cholesterol synthesis in the liver. For example, people with depression may have low cholesterol levels, but it has not been proved that lowering cholesterol with statin therapy causes depression. 2019 Jul;33(7):685-694. doi: 10.1007/s40263-019-00633-3. This article reviews i) cholesterol function in the brain, ii) how low cholesterol can cause depression, iii) a brief introduction of the serotonin system and how low cholesterol can disturb it, iv) neurosteroids and how they may lead to depression, and v) some direct evidence that statins can cause depression as well as contradicting evidence. 2020 Nov;7(11):982-990. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30311-4. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. 2019;26:e000. Expert opinion: Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2018;19(8):674-687. doi: 10.2174/1389200219666180305143501. This site needs JavaScript to work properly. We know that cholesterol plays an important role in the serotonin system, so statins used to lower cholesterol may lead to the occurrence of depression. Köhler-Forsberg O, Gasse C, Berk M, Østergaard SD. Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov. NIH Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. However, the benefits of lowering total and LDL cholesterol have been demonstrated extensively, particularly in individuals with heart disease or at high risk of heart disease or strokes. While counterintuitive, antidepressants can have the inverse effect of increasing depression symptoms rather than reducing them. Schang L, Koller D, Franke S, Sundmacher L. BMJ Open. Introduction: Statins have been widely used in clinical practice; however, the association between statin use and depression is complex as research findings have been mixed. HHS Depression is a common malady associated with numerous chronic medical conditions such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Epub 2014 Jun 12. Köhler-Forsberg O, Gasse C, Berk M, Østergaard SD. 2018 Dec 1;21(12):1067-1075. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyy060.  |  Statins, cholesterol, Co-enzyme Q10, and Parkinson's disease. CNS Drugs. Renshaw PF, Parsegian A, Yang CK, Novero A, Yoon SJ, Lyoo IK, Cohen BM, Carlezon WA Jr. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. USA.gov. Alonso R, et al. 2012 Sep;13(13):1901-9. doi: 10.1517/14656566.2012.706604. 2013 Dec;14(17):2449-51. doi: 10.1517/14656566.2013.834630. Get the latest research from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus. Introduction: Risk of Neuropsychiatric Adverse Effects of Lipid-Lowering Drugs: A Mendelian Randomization Study. Epub 2012 Jul 7. The safety and effectiveness of statins as treatment for HIV-dyslipidemia: the evidence so far and the future challenges. Adverse effects of statin therapy: Perception vs. the evidence — focus on glucose homeostasis, cognitive, renal and hepatic function, haemorrhagic stroke and cataract. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Find NCBI SARS-CoV-2 literature, sequence, and clinical content: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sars-cov-2/. Agustini B, Mohebbi M, Woods RL, McNeil JJ, Nelson MR, Shah RC, Murray AM, Ernst ME, Reid CM, Tonkin A, Lockery JE, Berk M; ASPREE Investigator Group. Although this article stresses depression and its most extreme form, suicide, other affective manifestations include hostility, aggressiveness, rage, combativeness, accident proneness and special proneness for use of addictive substances. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Find NCBI SARS-CoV-2 literature, sequence, and clinical content: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sars-cov-2/. Impacts of Psychological Stress on Osteoporosis: Clinical Implications and Treatment Interactions.  |  Mach F, et al. 2014 Sep;124:174-9. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2014.06.006. Conclusions: These results suggest that the association between statin treatment and antidepressant use is unspecific (equivalent association between statins and most other drugs) and that the association between statin use and depression diagnoses is mediated by residual confounding, bias or by downstream effects of the statin prescription (seeing a physician more often). COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation. 2017 May;31(5):335-343. doi: 10.1007/s40263-017-0422-3. NLM Since antidepressants work by changing neurotransmitter levels in the brain, it's possible for the chemicals to become imbalanced, which can lead to more severe mood symptoms, including thoughts of suicide. Expert Opin Pharmacother. Molero Y, Cipriani A, Larsson H, Lichtenstein P, D'Onofrio BM, Fazel S. Lancet Psychiatry. 2017 May;31(5):335-343. doi: 10.1007/s40263-017-0422-3.  |   |  2012 Mar;11(1):85-96. doi: 10.1016/j.ejcnurse.2010.08.008. Areas covered: Since the pathophysiology of depression involves inflammation, statins could have a role in the treatment of mood disorders and might become a pharmacotherapy option for patients experiencing depression. Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis. Comment on: the relationship between statins and depression: a review of the literature. National Center for Biotechnology Information, Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. Pleiotropic effects of statins: evidence against benefits beyond LDL-cholesterol lowering. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! 2005 Mar;11(2):81-4. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2004.07.012. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! Lovastatin potentiates the antidepressant efficacy of fluoxetine in rats. 2018;12:757. Statins have been widely used in clinical practice; however, the association between statin use and depression is complex as research findings have been mixed. CNS Drugs. COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation. This site needs JavaScript to work properly. Associations between statin use and suicidality, depression, anxiety, and seizures: a Swedish total-population cohort study. 2010;10 Suppl 1:10-7. doi: 10.2165/1158822-S0-000000000-00000. Epub 2013 Sep 19. Zuzarte P, Duong A, Figueira ML, Costa-Vitali A, Scola G. Curr Drug Metab. More research is required to confirm a potentially beneficial effect of prescribing statins to people with clinical depression. Exploring the role of hospitals and office-based physicians in timely provision of statins following acute myocardial infarction: a secondary analysis of a nationwide cohort using cross-classified multilevel models. © Copyright 2018 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc. NLM Statins provide protection against coronary and cerebrovascular diseases by decreasing cholesterol synthesis in the liver. Epub 2006 Nov 13. HHS However, confounding data also exist refuting a positive effect of these drugs at elevating mood.  |  Front Psychiatry. Statins may enhance the proteolytic cleavage of proBDNF: implications for the treatment of depression. Kelly RR, McDonald LT, Jensen NR, Sidles SJ, LaRue AC. 2019 Oct 16;9(10):e030272.