Researchers at the San Diego School of Medicine, at the University of California at San Diego, US, have explained in their research how statins, a medicine used for lowering cholesterol, can help mitigate the severe symptoms of the coronavirus.

Earlier, a study published in The Embo Journal claimed that statins could help in averting severe symptoms and can ensure speedy recovery.

Now, the researchers explained how it could help in reducing the risk of coronavirus. The new paper was published in the American Journal of Cardiology .

Researchers said statins help in lowering and removing cholesterol from cell membranes. This in turns helps the body stop the virus from getting in.

Researchers noted that since statins affect ACE2, a protein that the virus binds itself with in order to proliferate, it can also lessen the impact or prevent the virus from entering the body.

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For the study, the researchers retrospectively examined the medical records of 170 patients with Covid-19 and 5,281 Covid-negative control patients hospitalised at the UC San Diego Health between February and June 2020.

Among the patients with Covid-19, 27 per cent were taking statins on admission.

Researchers concluded that the use of statin had lowered the risk of developing severe coronavirus symptoms by over 50 per cent. Patients taking statins also recovered faster than the rest.

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