Introduction. Statins are a class of lipid-lowering medications, also known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. They are considered one of the most popular prescribed agents worldwide for treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Statins are effective drugs to reduce cardiovascular events and mortality secondary to dyslipidemia. Statin therapy is considered as the standard dyslipidemia therapy. Except lipid-lowering effect, it is known that statins have cholesterol-independent effects (pleiotropic effects). Aim of the study. This review was undertaken to investigate the pleiotropic effects of statins on the metabolism of patients with cardiovascular disease. Material and methods. To identify relevant articles, HINARI and ScienceDirect databases were searched using the key-words: „statins”, „pleiotropic effects statins”, „lipophilic statins”, „rosuvastatin”, „atorvastatin”. Results. This study concluded that the pleiotropic effects of statins differ based on lipophilic properties. Hydrophilic statins (rosuvastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin) are liver specific. Lipophilic statins (atorvastatin, lovastatin, simvastatin) are widely distributed in different tissues and determine a lot of side effects. Statins exhibit numerous pleiotropic effects as inhibition of inflammation response and oxidative stress, modulation of cell proliferation, improvement of endothelium function, suppression of platelet activity, plaque stability, normalization of sympathetic outflow, etc. The multiple pleiotropic effects of statins are due to multiple mechanisms, the most important one being the reduction of circulating isoprenoids and hence inactivation of signaling proteins. These multiple lipid-independent effects of statins are utilised for research in multiple treatment domains. Conclusions. Pleiotropic effects of statins are of major relevance in the treatment of the major cardiovascular conditions and diseases, such as atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndrome, chronic heart failure, postoperative atrial fibrillation and others.