Statins (2024)

FAQs

What do cardiologists think of statins? ›

“We know that if you have heart disease, specifically atherosclerosis, statins, if tolerated, are an absolute must,” says Brian Cambi, MD, a Yale Medicine cardiologist. “As far as who should take statins for prevention, that continues to get refined.”

Decades of research has proven that statins and other lipid-lowering therapies are very effective in reducing the risk for major vascular events, such as death from cardiovascular causes, heart attack, stroke, or needing a coronary stent or bypass surgery.

While statins are highly effective and safe for most people, they have been linked to muscle pain, digestive problems and mental fuzziness in some people. Rarely, they may cause liver damage.

Statins help lower the cholesterol level in your blood. This helps lower your risk of heart and circulatory conditions, such as: coronary heart disease and angina (chest pain and discomfort)

Joseph A. Hill, M.D., Ph. D. The controversy in the United Kingdom started in 2013 when the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claimed statins were being overprescribed to people with low risk of heart disease, and that the drugs' side effects were worse than previously thought.

Very rarely, high-dose statin use can cause muscle cells to break down and release a protein called myoglobin into the bloodstream. This can lead to severe muscle pain and kidney damage. Liver damage.

Statins are effective, accessible, and affordable. However, well-known side effects like muscle pain keep some people from taking them.

The potential harms of statins include some very rare adverse events (harms), such as the breakdown of muscle, the development of diabetes or a bleed to the brain. As these are unlikely in most people who take statins, it has been argued that the benefits of statins outweigh them.

And can you lower cholesterol without medication? There's scientific evidence to show that changing the things you eat can help naturally lower cholesterol levels, as can exercising and stopping smoking. This can be enough to lower your need for medication — or remove it altogether.

Do not start a statin in patients ages ≥ 75 years who do not have known vascular disease or type 2 diabetes; start or continue a statin in all patients ages 75 to 84 with type 2 diabetes to prevent cardiovascular events and mortality; and start or continue a statin in patients ages > 75 years who have known vascular ...

What are the bad news about statins? ›

Additional potential side effects of statins include fatigue, erectile dysfunction, memory loss, cognitive defects, ALS-like symptoms, aggression, irritability, polyneuropathy, peripheral neuropathy, muscle cramps and muscle weakness (3).

Dr. Carimi says most people stop statin use because of side effects or because they don't understand the risks and how statins are helping the body work effectively. He says some people even try using supplements, like red yeast rice, instead of taking prescription statins.

There have been reports of the drug causing side effects that include an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke, muscle pain and weakness and diabetes, causing acceptance of the drug to be split.

Many adults eligible for statins for heart disease prevention are not taking them. Researchers report that only 35% of adults who are eligible to take statins for prevention of cardiovascular disease are actually using them.

Belief in statin benefit was more prevalent among cardiologists, who represented 48.8% of the clinicians surveyed, and concerns regarding statin safety were higher among non-cardiologists and clinicians in an academic setting. Guideline knowledge was not associated with a difference in statin use (74.1% vs.

Ezetimibe. Ezetimibe is a tablet that lowers cholesterol. It may be prescribed if statins cannot be taken, or alongside a statin for extra cholesterol-lowering. It's a 'cholesterol absorption inhibitor' that limits the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School reviewed the records of about 1.6 million prescriptions for statins covered by Medicare Part D in Massachusetts in 2011. Of the 2,444 doctors in the Medicare prescribing database, almost 37 percent received industry payments.

Statins can cause muscle pain, which leads to complex, detrimental problems. When pain comes into the picture, it can lower a patient's activity level. Sometimes they're unable to exercise as frequently as they otherwise would, and sometimes they can't exercise at all.