Statins for prevention of contrast induced nephropathy after coronary angiography: a network meta-analysis

Objective: A network meta-analysis to compare various statins for the prevention of contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) was performed in patients who underwent coronary angiography (CAG). Methods: Randomized controlled studies with a Modified Jadad score greater than 3 using statins as prevention for contrast induced nephropathy were utilized from the following databases: PubMed, Ovid EMBASE, Cochrane library and Web of Science. Results: Out of 456 articles, 19 studies were enrolled and 9000 patients were selected. The pooled analysis revealed that a high dose of atorvastatin and rosuvastatin reduced contrast induced nephropathy compared with a placebo/untreated group. No significance was found between various statins within the high and low dose groups. All treatments had similar effects on serious adverse events including death, myocardial infarction, revascularization, cerebral infarction, and dialysis after contrast administration. Conclusions: Fully hydrated, high perioperative statin use is an effective way to reduce the incidence of contrast induced nephropathy compared to a placebo/ untreated group with a similar safety profile.