Statins and surgical site infections

A large retrospective cohort study in the October issue of Archives of Surgery demonstrates that preoperative statin use was not associated with a decreased risk of surgical site infections (SSI). Patients were matched on procedure, hospital, and surgeon. However, for the subgroup of patients who did develop a SSI, the risk for death was 17% lower in those on statins. The authors of the papers note that "statins are not antibiotics." Now if we could only get our colleagues to agree that antibiotics are not antipyretics.