Despite decades of research, no pharmacological therapy is effective in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Fortunately, the pharmacogenetic evidence suggests that statins can be a candidate drug for ARDS. However, concerning ARDS, the potential effects of statin are controversial. This review summarizes current progress on the studies of statins therapy in ARDS.Recent finding ARDS is a highly heterogeneous disease. Two subphenotypes, hyper-inflammation subphenotype, and hypo-inflammation subphenotype have been confirmed recently. Additionally, statins have been shown to have different therapeutic effects on different subphenotypes. For instance, simvastatin can significantly improve the 28-day survival rate of the high inflammation group, whereas rosuvastatin does no effect on both subphenotypes. And during the new coronavirus epidemic, the use of statins has been reported to improve the prognosis of COVID-19 patients including those with ARDS. Existing studies suggest great potential of statins for the treatment of ARDS. However, its role in ARDS is not just as straightforward as previously thought. Further studies are urgently needed to investigate the role of statins among different ARDS subphenotypes, which is particularly important in the context of the COVID-19.

Gangyan Zhou, Bin Wu, Jiangli Yu, Na Zhang, Aiqiu Mao, Zheng Cao. Can statins be applied for treating acute respiratory distress syndrome?. Frontiers in Medical Science Research (2023) Vol. 5, Issue 10: 8-16. https://doi.org/10.25236/FMSR.2023.051002.

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