People who take statins to lower cholesterol are less likely to die from pneumonia, according to a new study.

The study followed people for 90 days after they were hospitalized with pneumonia. About 10 to 15 percent of the people who get pneumonia die from it, according to a news release on the study.

Statins may help because they stop the blood from clotting and lower inflammation.

The study was based on a review of records from about 30,000 people who were hospitalized with pneumonia from 1997 to 2004; 4.6 percent of them were on statins.

The death rate was more than 5 percent lower for those on statins after 30 days (10 percent to 15.7 percent), and the gap widened a bit at 90 days, 16.8 percent to 22.4 percent.

Researchers said they didn't find any benefit from having taken statins in the past or from other medications.

"Our study adds to the accumulating evidence that statin use is associated with improved prognosis after severe infections," the authors of the study said.

The study appears in the Oct. 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.