relevant studies were identified through medline , embase , cochrane library , scopus , and clinicaltrials.gov electronic databases and hand - searched from inception through december 2014 .
prospective and retrospective observational cohort studies examining the association between statin use ( on hospital admission or previous users ) and the outcomes of bacteremic patients were included .
the outcome of interest was overall hospital mortality at the longest follow - up at each single study .
copenhagen : the nordic cochrane centre , the cochrane collaboration , 2014 . a p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant .
study - specific risk ratios were calculated and combined using random - effects model meta - analysis . between studies
the overall hospital mortality was 15.36% ( 139/905 ) in patients on statin versus 22.28% ( 1481/6648 ) in patients not on a statin ( odds ratio = 0.49 ; 95% confidence interval = 0.300.81 ; i = 69% , p = 0.005 ) [ figure 1 ] .
quality analysis showed that all the included studies were of high or moderate quality ( 16.67% high and 83.33% moderate scores ) .
in previous studies , statins have inconsistently been shown to improve mortality among septic patients .
our study showed that statin treatment in bacteremic patients was associated with significantly lower mortality rates .
the optimum dose and type of statin ( hydrophilic vs. lipophilic ) and the mechanism by which statins potentially halt the inflammatory cascade remains an area of further study .
large , well designed , randomized controlled trials are warranted to provide more conclusive knowledge and potentially change clinical practice .
 background : statins modify inflammatory cell signaling during the immune response to infection . 
 this has been considered as a pleotropic effect . 
 effects of statins in inflammatory conditions such as bacteremia have been found to be controversial.aims:we examined the effect of statins on the mortality of bacteremia patients.materials and methods : major databases were searched for the pertinent clinical trials.results:six cohort studies comprising 7553 patients were included . 
 hospital mortality was lower ( 15.36% vs 22.28% ) in patients on statin.conclusions:there may be a potential role of statins in similar inflammatory and infective conditions . 
Background
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Financial support and sponsorship
Conflicts of interest